Sonny, It's Cold Outside
by TiaTodd
Summary: Chad's going to be alone this Christmas season, and all he wants is to stay with Sonny a bit longer. When a need to buy gifts for her friends arises, Chad finds himself in unique situations. ::NOT RELATED to "A Whole New Year"::
1. Sonny, It's Cold Outside

Sonny

It was December 8th and I still hadn't gotten any presents for my friends. Now, since we weren't doing the show until the New Year, I had been spending much more time with my mom in our little apartment.

"Mom? Hey, I just realized I need to buy presents for Grady, Nico, Zora, and Tawni. I should be back before dark."

"Wait, wait, wait a second, Sonny Munroe!" my mom called, making her way briskly from the kitchen to the living room, where I was just walking to the door. I stopped and turned around to see her hand on her hip. "Since when do you just waltz out of the apartment on such short notice?"

I froze up and my eyes darted around the room. "Uh…yeah? Is that okay?"

She put her other hand up to her temple. "Only in Hollywood. You know what, you have your cell phone, right?" I held it up. "Go ahead. But next time, please tell me before the second you go out the door."

---

So I hadn't really been successful. First, I had looked for something for Nico and Grady, but…they're Nico and Grady. What could I get them that they would actually use? Then, I had looked for stuff for Zora…well, that was hopeless. And I had attempted to get some make-up or something for Tawni, but I didn't know what she already had, what she would hate, or anything. Who knew that finding Christmas presents would require so much homework?

"Where to go?" I asked myself once I had left the shopping center empty-handed. Some kids were looking my way and I pulled my hoodie further down. Well, I could visit my friends from _So Random!_, but they all lived too far from where I currently was. Well, I could go home, but that was no fun.

Maybe I would visit Chad? I mean, he lived nearer than the others, and it would be nice to see a familiar face. Sure, he'd probably hate it, but he'd just have to deal.

---

"Sonny?" Chad observed puzzledly as he hesitantly opened the door for me. "Uh…come in…?"

I stepped inside with a bounce, nodding to him and smiling and looking around his apartment. "Nice place…though, I expected Chad Dylan Cooper to be living…well, not in an apartment."

"Oh, this is just where I stay in the winter," he explained as he closed the door behind us. "Nice and cozy."

I crossed my arms as I looked at the wall opposite the window. "Chad, you seriously have a working fireplace?"

He shrugged as he walked up next to me. "Well, I have the cash, so why not?"

I rolled my eyes, plopping myself down on his white leather sofa. "So you live here all by yourself?"

"For the most part. I mean, my mom claims she lives here but mostly she's on 'vacation' in Colorado or Montana, or Tahoe. You know, places completely different from LA."

"And you don't go with her? Even during Christmas?" I asked. I looked up to see him leaning on the back of the sofa, shaking his head, kind of staring at the fireplace. "Well, don't you want to have a white Christmas?"

He gave me a look of disgust. "Chad Dylan Cooper doesn't do cold."

"Even with your mom?"

"_Especially_ with my mom."

I could tell we were done with this subject. It was getting warm so I took off my sweatshirt and tossed it onto the chair against the wall adjacent to the couch, along with my sunglasses, revealing my pink-and-black striped long sweater.

"Hey, hey hey! This isn't the prop house!" he shouted. "You can't just fling your junk wherever you please," he snapped, grabbing my sweatshirt and examining it, then flinging it against the other wall.

"Really, Chad?"

He gave me a hard look, and then his brow wrinkled. "Hey, do you want some hot chocolate?"

---

"Hah! Nuh-uh!" I laughed, holding my empty mug in both hands. The fire was raging and he was sitting opposite me on the sofa.

"That never leaves this room," Chad warned with a completely straight face. "Ever."

My laughing came to an awkward end and my gaze wandered to the raging fire.

"So…" he said. My head snapped back up to him. "Why'd you come? I mean, not like we're not having a fun time, but…"

"Oh…well, I don't know…you're my friend and it's the Christmas season, so, you know." Why had I gone down there? I checked my phone. It was nearly nine. "Oh, well, I'd better go, Chad. Thanks for the…the hot chocolate."

"Oh, so soon?" He got up as I collected my things. "But we were having an _actual_ conversation!"

I pulled my hood up and pushed my glasses on, reaching for the door handle, and turning around to look at Chad. "It's getting pretty late. My mom will be wondering where I am. Besides, I'll come back tomorrow!"

"But Sonny!" he called as I stepped out the door. "It's…it's cold outside."

What kind of excuse was that? "I've got a sweatshirt, Chad. I'll be just fine. I'll see you tomorrow."


	2. Craving Company

Chad

I woke up Wednesday morning to sacred silence, the pale winter sun peeking through my window. I sat up in my warm bed and threw back my down comforter, quickly wrapping it around myself again.

"I hate winter. I hate it, I hate it…" I muttered over and over again, dragging the comforter along with me as I went to the kitchenette for a glass of purified water.

And I leaned on the counter, drinking my water, in lonely silence, in my pristine white little apartment. I guess it really didn't matter how small my living quarters were, it was never full enough.

The highlight of my day was actually when Sonny came to visit that night.

"Hey, Sonny, come on in," I greeted as she smiled at me. She peeled off her gloves and her giant coat, laying them neatly over the back of my sofa.

"Hey, Chad!" she replied brightly, giving me a quite unexpected hug. "How was your day?"

"Uh, um, you know…good." My hands found their way into my pants pockets. Wrong, today had been dead boring. I motioned for her to sit at the bar as I stepped into the kitchenette to make some hot chocolate. "How was your day?"

She quickly launched into an intricate account of her day and I was soon sorry I had asked. "Well, first of all, I had to call Nico and Grady so I could meet them somewhere to hang out, because I haven't seen them since like, Friday and I still have no idea what to get them for Christmas. And then I had to track down Zora, who evidently is in Hawaii with her family, so she'll get whatever I'm giving her a few days late. And I looked up all of Tawni's favorite stores, but a tube of Cocoa Moco Cocoa lipstick is like, $60, which is a crazy price for lipstick. I mean, maybe not for a whole set, but for one tube? And…"

After about thirty seconds of her fast-talking I basically just zoned out, sipping my chocolate and nodding when she paused.

You notice funny things about people when you zone out. For example, right now I was noticing how pink Sonny's lips were, and how weird her chin looked, and the way you could see all her teeth when she smiled.

"Chad? Chad? Are you even listening to me?" she asked indignantly. I grinned.

"Not really."

"Chad this isn't funny! I've lived here for awhile now and I have no idea what my friends want for Christmas!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sonny." I looked down at my empty mug awkwardly and then at the clock on the wall. It was 9:46.

She followed my gaze. "Oh my gosh!" She shot up and rushed to get her mug into the sink, practically running for the door.

I followed her to the door again as she threw up her fur-trimmed hood and bug-eye sunglasses, gloves tucked in her jacket pocket. "Sonny, it's late…you might be too tired to drive back home."

"Chad, I was supposed to be home a half hour ago! My mom will be so worried." She gave me a quick hug and opened the door before I could beat her to it. "Thanks for your hospitality…bye, Chad!"

I watched her go, leaving me by myself again, and I closed the door. Uncool.

---

I was frightfully more aware of the little sounds of night. I wasn't scared, no. But I could clearly hear the couple in the room below me, talking in low voices to each other before going to sleep. Once those noises ceased, I heard pounding footsteps and shrieking giggles from the room above me. I assumed Janna was having a sleepover.

You know, I hadn't really been the nicest to her. Maybe I would go say hello?

---

I knocked on her door, and heard silence on the other side, soon greeted by an incredulous, "Chad? Hey, what are you doing here?" Janna smiled at me brightly and the girls in the background looked up, stunned, immediately turning to each other and frantically stroking their hair. "Oh, are we being too loud? I'm sorry…"

"No, no…it's fine. Just wanted to come say hi." She gaped at me in disbelief. "So…are you gonna invite me in, or…"

"Oh, right. Sorry. My mistake," she quickly apologized, allowing me into her apartment. Skirts and colored skinny jeans were strewn all over the place, over the sofa and coffee table. "This is Jess and Melissa." The girls rushed over to their friend's side smiling at me and I smiled back awkwardly. "We were just about to watch _Benny and Joon_. You can join if you'd like!"

"Uh…alright." The two other girls bit their lips to try and hide their excitement.

---

Had I known that Johnny Depp was in it, I would not have agreed to stay for the movie. I don't approve of stars that people consider to be more attractive than myself. I mean, anyone could just sit in a tree with a weird hat and polka-dot tie and stare at a passing car. I bet if I climbed up in some bug-infested tree, I'd look ten times more "angelic" than Depp.


	3. Present Problems

Sonny

It was Thursday the tenth and I was having a smoothie with Nico and Grady at their favorite burger joint. It was in a little exclusive shopping-center-type-place and it was the perfect meeting spot, though we were outside and it was freezing cold, and the only thing protecting us from the downpour was the little green table umbrella.

We'd just about run out of things to talk about, yet I still had no idea what to get them. "So…have you guys seen any cool movies recently?"

"You already asked us that," Nico pointed out.

"Yeah," Grady agreed, stuffing a third chilidog into his mouth. "It might be just me, but I think our conversation is getting kinda slow."

"Right!" I agreed eagerly. "Right. I bet there's something you'd much rather be doing, isn't there? Like what?"

"Oh, don't get us wrong Sonny," Nico defended.

"Yeah, we love hanging out with you!" Grady established, punching me in the arm playfully, yet still a bit rough.

"No, don't hold back, please! Are there any like…video games you'd rather be playing? Skateboarding? Basketball?"

They exchanged a confused look.

I sighed. "Look, you guys…I have no idea what to get you for Christmas. I'm just trying to figure out what you'd really like, you know?"

"Aw, Sonny, you don't have to get us anything!" Grady insisted.

"But I want to. You guys are my friends! And I want to give you something, even if you don't get anything for me. Come on, give me something to work with! Anything! It would just make me feel a whole lot better knowing I had something for you."

They both thought, and glanced at me nervously, like they didn't want to ask for much from me. "Well…" Grady finally said. "I kinda want, like…a slinky."

I gave him an odd look. "A slinky?" Nico and I questioned.

"Yeah!" Grady elaborated animatedly. "You know, not like one of those plastic ones that always get tangled. One of the good old metal ones! Oh, oh! Only in orange!! If it doesn't come orange, I wouldn't mind if you spray-painted it. Oh! Or I could spray paint it! That would be so much fun!"

I didn't really understand why Grady would want something so simple. But, at least it was something, and it would be easy to find. I turned to Nico.

He shrugged. "I dunno…there's this comic book series…I don't really have the money to buy it because I spend it all on gum…it's called _The Adventures of John Jacob and Jingleheimer Schmidt_. But don't feel obligated, I really don't need them."

I smiled brightly and sucked down the rest of my raspberry smoothie. "Thanks, guys! We should hang out again this season. I miss your antics." I checked my phone. "Oh, it's six…I uh, I need to be somewhere."

"Okay!"

"Bye, Sonny!"

---

"So did you figure out what you were going to get your friends?"

After a few minutes of silence this question struck me by surprise. Chad and I were sitting on the couch drinking hot chocolate again. "I thought you didn't care."

He shrugged nonchalantly and took a sip while his eyes beheld the golden flames. "I dunno, it's important to you and we kinda don't really have much stimulating conversation going, so…" He looked at me sincerely. "Tell me."

I couldn't help but smile. "Well, I hung out with Nico and Grady today and I was trying to figure out what they wanted, but they gave me no clues so I just had to ask them. Grady wants a metal slinky, an orange one, but said it would be fun to paint it himself, so I'm gonna get a can of orange spray paint for him, too. And for Nico, I'm going to get a couple issues of _The Adventures of John Jacob and Jingleheimer Schmidt_…Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed. I just realized. "I've never even been in a comic book store. I wouldn't even know how to go about finding Nico's comics!"

Chad looked at me with something that looked like concern, but as soon as he rolled his eyes I realized it had been confusion. Well, at least he was listening. That was a start.

We sat there awkwardly again. I was just about to pull out my phone when, "Hey, do you think glasses are really made out of glass?"

I nearly spat out my hot chocolate, I was laughing so hard. "_You_ watch Mitchell Davis?? I thought I was the only one!"

"Really? Me too! Darn!" he exclaimed in false disappointment. "I thought you thought I was being original."

"Haha! That's okay." I thought a moment and a grin spread across my face. "You could just, you know…black it off."

"Sleep it off. You're being ridiculous right now." He said it with a straight face, which made it even funnier. I started laughing and then we both cracked up.

"You're so good at that!" I managed to remark between guffaws. My sides ached and he now had his elbow on the armrest, chin resting on his fist with a faint grin on his face. How did he look like such a model when he didn't even try? "Wow. We actually have something in common."

Chad's eyes widened as he looked over at me. "Who knew? And it's…comedic! You know, I could get my laptop and we could watch Livelavalive…"

"That would be awesome!"

He got up and walked into his room, soon returning with a silver Macbook Air. Who seriously owns those? He sat beside me, our shoulders touching, and booted up his laptop, typing in his password at lightning speed.

As soon as he opened Firefox, I glanced up at the top right corner. "It's ten o'clock?!" I almost shouted in his ear. He winced.

"Oh. Do you have to go?" I nodded and stood up, and he quickly closed his computer and followed me to the door as I pulled my beanie down over my ears. "But…it's pouring rain! You should probably wait until the sky is clear."

"Chad, it's barely sprinkling!"

"But still…what if your windshield wipers act up and you can't see a foot in front of you?" He put a restraining hand on my shoulder.

I sighed and embraced him. "I'll be fine, Chad. And I'll come back tomorrow. I always do, right?"

"But Sonny…" He grabbed me by the hand as I started towards the door, and the gesture took me by surprise. I looked back at him in shock, him looking at me and then averting his gaze, dropping my hand quickly. "I'll…" he put one had in his pocket and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly with the other. "I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night."

"You too."

---

"It won't happen again, Mom! I swear!"

"It had better not, Sonny Munroe!" She sighed and pressed her fingers to her forehead. "First, you take off without giving me so much as an hour's notice. Next thing I know you come home late _three days in a row_, and find the reason to be visiting some boy I hardly know!"

"Mom, it's just Chad!"

"Hollywood has really gotten to you, hasn't it?"

"No, Mom, it hasn't!" She opened her mouth but I beat her to it, sitting back down on my bed. "You wouldn't be this worried if I had just been with Tawni. Just because Chad's a boy you automatically assume the worst."

"Well can you blame me?"

I huffed and crossed my arms. Sometimes I couldn't even look at my mom. "It won't happen again, okay?"

"Okay."


	4. Freaky Fangirl

Chad

I woke up wondering what Sonny was going to do that Friday. Why? Because the night previous, after Sonny left, I had hung out with Janna again, who had only wanted to know about my day. I would make it a point to find some guy friends in this complex.

Of course, the highlight of my day had been Sonny's visit. Janna ate it up. Then, she got me to tell her everything I had ever known about Sonny. It was surprising how long that had taken.

Maybe she was planning on going and getting that slinky and spray paint, or trying to figure out how to fit in at a comic book store. Or, maybe she was trying to figure out what to get Tawni and that other girl. What was I doing? Man, I needed to put some juice into my life.

Which is what I started with. Orange juice. Not that Sunny D crap where you can taste the sugar; the natural kind that actually tastes like oranges and smells like citrus fruits. Now I was pouring my last drop from this carton. I'd have to savor this glass.

I sat on the sofa and pulled a blanket around me, sipping in silence, the eerie tick of the clock being the only noise.

---

It is a long and confusing account of how I decided to spend the rest of my morning waiting in line with the first six issues of _The Adventures of John Jacob and Jingleheimer Schmidt_ in my arms, but boy was Sonny surprised that night.

"You really shouldn't've, Chad. How much did you pay for these?" she insisted.

"No, really. Just take them."

"Chad—"

"Sonny…" My hands deflected hers as she tried to hand me back the comics. "Sonny, your hands are freezing! Come on, I'll get you some hot chocolate…"

"Oh, I actually…my mom has been really freaking out lately because I keep getting home late, and I should probably get going."

Well, that was disappointing. "But you just got here. Ten minutes, come on."

"We've already tried this before. Three times. It's ended up being multiple hours." She stepped back towards the door. "It's not that I don't love spending time with you, Chad. You and I have become great friends lately. Listen, my mom is going back to visit Wisconsin soon, and until then I need to show her she can trust me, okay?"

I rolled my eyes. "Do you _always_ have to be on the adults' good sides?"

---

"Hey, Chad! Come in!" Janna greeted. "My mom won't be back for a couple of hours so now's the opportune moment to watch _Pirates_…I've seen it so many times that my mom gets worried. Would you like to watch with me?"

"Uh…" I winced. I was disgusted with _Pirates of the Caribbean_. For more than one actor—I mean reason. "Not…particularly."

"That's alright, we can watch something else!" she backtracked, motioning towards the cabinet beside the TV.

I walked over to open it and scanned the titles. _Sweeney Todd…Edward Scissorhands…Secret Window…Sleepy Hollow…_ "I'm beginning to see a theme here."

"Um, y-yeah. Big…big Burton fan," she stuttered.

"_Secret Window_ isn't Tim Burton." I crossed my arms.

She sighed. "Well…we don't have to watch a movie…we could talk in my room or something." She led me to her room, which was pretty plain despite the purple bedspread and neon pillows, and the wall by her bed completely plastered with pictures of…

"Okay, I'm out of here," I announced, not being able to get out of that room fast enough. There was a reason I had never talked to this girl before.

"Wait, Chad, come on…" She placed a hand on my shoulder and I yanked away.

"Oh my goodness, don't touch me!" I stared at her. "Quite frankly, I find your little obsession with Johnny Depp creepy and unhealthy! Not only is he like…three times your age…"

"3.0667, to be more exact…"

"You see?! You see? Just when I think you can't get any freakier," I cried hysterically, making a mad dash for the exit, "you do." I slammed the door behind me.


	5. Choocolate Talk

Sonny

"Sonny! You're here early," Chad said as he stepped aside to let me in.

"Yeah. Well, I wasn't really having much luck with Zora's present so I decided maybe I'd have better luck after a good night's sleep. And of course I wasn't ready to go to sleep quite yet." I set down my things and helped myself to one of the steaming mugs at the bar. Looked like he had been prepared.

"I just don't get what your big deal is." Chad came and sat beside me, playing with the rising steam from his drink. "Why are you so worried about the whole gift thing?"

"Well…they're my friends," I answered. Duh! "I mean, I wanna get something that means something to them."

"No, I mean…why do you bother getting presents for them? It's just hassle. And December is supposed to be chill, you know?" He got up and walked around to the kitchen, searching the cabinets.

"Wait. So you've never given anyone a Christmas present?" Well, that was appalling!

"Haha, nope," he smirked, finally locating something that looked like a cookie tin. He opened it to reveal mini marshmallows. Really? "And I don't think I ever will. Chad Dylan Cooper doesn't do stress."

I couldn't help but glare at him. "Really? You'd be that selfish about your own relaxation as to not get _anything_ for _anyone_. Not even your girlfriend?"

"I make a point not to have girlfriends during the holidays," he replied with a bored voice. "It just adds to the stress. I mean, they get all infuriated because I 'don't so much as give them a single rose'." He walked back over with his freshly marshmallowed drink and looked at me with a 'well, obviously' expression. "That's Valentines Day, no duh."

Deciding this was a losing battle, I made an attempt at subject change. "So…my mom is heading for Wisconsin tomorrow morning."

"I care so deeply."

"Chad…"

"No really! My life depended on that vital piece of information!" His eyes looked up at me as he took another sip. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Anyway! Lucy is coming down here. You remember her?" Chad nodded and grimaced. "So, I don't think I'll be visiting you as often for the next few days."

His face fell and he set down his hot chocolate. "Oh." Then he smiled again, not looking at me. "Well, that's cool. I mean, we both have separate lives, right?"

"Right." We sipped in silence for a little while. "So, um…how about we listen to some Christmas music?"

"Not too into hearing Jingle Bell Rock ten times by seven different artists."

I shrugged in agreement. I mean, I suppose he was right. It was a bit too early to be getting sick of I'll Be Home For Christmas.

---

Man, I could talk an awful lot with Chad. I felt he should practically know my life by now. "Well, it's almost nine…"

"Sonny, it's Saturday! Give yourself a little break," he insisted. "And it's like, 45 outside. You'll freeze."

"Chad, that's nothing. I grew up in Wisconsin. The 'high' this time of year would be 25 degrees." It was funny to see his blue eyes get so wide. "Look, my mom leaves tomorrow morning early. She won't be back until after Christmas."

"So? I haven't seen my mom in months."

"Aw! Chad!" I rubbed his arm comfortingly but he gave me a quizzical look. "Listen, after Lucy leaves my mom will still be gone and we can hang out as long as we want."

He tried to hide it but I saw his face brighten. It gave his demeanor a hint of sweetness and I couldn't stop myself before my lips landed on his cheek. Chad couldn't disguise the shock. I kinda blushed. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I did that."

"Uh, no. It's fine…" he mumbled, then putting on a false front he added, "You just couldn't help yourself. I don't blame you, I guess. I mean," he smirked. "I'm Chad Dylan Cooper."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my coat. "Oh, yeah, _that's_ it."

He walked to the door with me, again. "Well, until…Monday?"

"Tuesday. Bye, Chad."


	6. Vivi Violence

**I personally love this chapter. I don't know, it just seems pretty exciting to me. PLEASE ENJOY!**

* * *

Chad

After a few hours deciding not to wait for fun to find me, I headed for a local music store. Hey, lots of freaks hang out there. There was bound to be something exciting.

And there was. While I was browsing the Alternative section, after having decided all the pop was lame, I bumped into this girl with crazy hair. I mean, crazy. It was bleached white and long-layered, teased at the top and had different neon-colored streaks in it. The girl had decorated it with small black bows and was wearing an Owl City t-shirt and zebra skinny jeans.

"Whoa, sorry."

"Mmhmm," she replied with attitude as she put her hand on her hip and returned to browsing. I know, right? Not so interesting. Until her cell phone rang. "Hiyas, it be Vivi. Laylin? Yeah…yeah…"

She talked with her friend for awhile, walking away from me, and I heard her almost shout, "What? No! But we were supposed to go together!" After some desperate conversation, she closed her phone and looked at me, and I could practically see her thinking.

"I'm Vivi Violence. Nice to meet." She extended an arm. Violence?

"Chad Dylan Cooper."

"Oh, yeah," she remarked, looking as if she was trying to remember something. "You're on that…one show…you're kind of a big deal, huh?"

Did she think I was a joke? "Yeah." I crossed my arms.

"Okay, so I know we like just met and all, but…I've got three concerts to go to and my bestie can't make it. So…would you mind taking her tickets?"

Was this chick for real? Well, it would be an interesting adventure. "Um…I guess…well, who are you seeing?"

"Oh, we're seeing Emery twice and then MCR. And we might go see Dance Gavin Dance. So…what do you think?"

I'd heard of My Chemical Romance; that was about it. Four concerts? "All in one day?"

She laughed. She laughed! The audacity! "I can tell you haven't done this often. No, we're going to them all on different days, obv, and Sally's gonna see if we can all manage to pull off following Attack Attack for a week…"

"Who's 'we all'?"

"Oh, Jack Skell, Sally, Pete Poison, Gabe Guillotine, Crystal Corpse, Bonnie Bones, Bonnie Bloodlust, and me. And you if you want to come."

I stared at her. What the hell kinds of names were those? And that was a whole lot of people. "Why do you need me to come? I mean, one less person, you know?"

"But eight is unlucky for me! Would you mind terribly?"

"Don't you have other friends?"

"They're trying to sneak into The Classic Crime's concert on the other side of the country! And Laylin Lovett was supposed to come but her mom found out about…well…you don't really need to know…" I stared at her like she was completely insane. Because she was. Then she interlocked her fingers and put a pleading expression on her face, snake bites on her bottom lip quivering. "Please!" she half-whispered.

"Fine." She jumped up and down and clapped.

"Yes! Oh, and one more thing…do you have a car?"

---

It was five thirty. Where was she? I checked the address again on my phone and looked behind me again at the court. She had told me to wait at the corner of the entrance and she would be right there.

Then I heard some shouting and a door slam from the house on the corner. "TIFFANY JACKSON YOU COME OUT OF THERE THIS MINUTE!"

"NO! GO AWAY!" Vivi shouted. After some more yelling from who I assumed was her mother, I saw the window closes to me on the second story open, and a head poke out. She smiled at me and waved, holding up one finger and disappearing again. Something long and hot pink slinked out the window, stopping at about five feet from the ground, and I could see Vivi climbing down it, finally dropping herself to the ground and making a mad dash for my car.

What had I gotten myself into?

"Hey! Thanks for coming!" she said breathlessly as she clambered into the passenger's seat. "If you wouldn't mind flooring it?"


	7. Bifful Tension

Sonny

"Alright, Sonny! Enough!" Lucy shouted. Hey, rude! I was in the middle of telling her a story. "I know I'm like a total CDC fangirl but could you _please_ stop talking about Chad so much?"

We were in the prop house, which I had the key to. It had been Lucy's idea, and it hadn't been a bad one. "I'm not talking about him _that _much…am I?"

"Please! It's been three days and we've had a grand total of four conversations that weren't about Chad Dylan Cooper, and even still you mentioned him! Geez, Sonny, you're crushing so hard you can't even see it!"

I stood up and crossed my arms indignantly. "I am not crushing on Chad! It's just that he's practically been my best friend for the past week…I don't know." I could tell she didn't believe me. "Look, he spends a lot of time alone, and I don't think anyone should spend the holidays by themselves. And it's like…he doesn't want me to leave. I don't think he'll admit it, but he gets lonely." She thought this over. "How about we stop by for a quick visit before I take you to the airport tomorrow?"

"Okay!" Lucy's face brightened. Such a fangirl.

I picked up my phone immediately, earning a skeptical look from my friend. 10:30…that wasn't too late for someone living on his own, right?

"Why don't you just text him?"

"Oh…uh…I don't know. It seems less personal." She rolled her eyes and I grimaced. "Hello?"

"Hey…" He paused. "Do you have any bones that need collecting?"

I laughed. Mitchell Davis reference. "Hah! Hey, where are you? It's pretty loud."

"Oh, I'm at an Emery concert…" I was interrupted by loud screaming. "Sorry…that was Crystal…" I heard something else at the other end. "Sorry, Bonnie Bones."

"Oh…who's Bonnie Bones? And why are you at an Emery concert? Aren't they a screamo band?"

I heard more loud noises at the other end. "Hey, I'm gonna have to call you back…"

"Okay." I felt a punch to my arm and looked back at Lucy, who threw her hands up and gave me a "WTF" expression. "Oh, Chad, wait. Do you mind if I drop by tomorrow?"

"Uh, sure…okay! Bye, Sonny."

"Bye!" When I turned back to my friend she was glaring at me. "What?"

"You're being ridiculous right now." Half-mad, I still had to smile as I remembered how well Chad had said that. "Why are you laughing? This is serious! You're being a jerk!"

"Oh, was I laughing?" She just sat there with her arms folded. "I'm sorry, Lu. Look, maybe we should go back to the apartment. You know, in case we fall asleep or something."

She sighed. Would she just let it go?

---

It was three in the morning and Lucy was fast asleep. I couldn't get a wink. But that wasn't unusual; I was always the last one to fall asleep as others dozed off within ten minutes of lying still. I was staring up at the ceiling with one hand behind my head, the other on my phone when it vibrated.

Casting a glance at my friend in the tangled sleeping bag, I stepped outside my room and made it into the living room. "Chad?"

"Hey, Sonny," he said, yawning. "Sorry…I just got back from dropping off Peter and Vivi. So…oh, I guess I already answered your question and all…"

"Oh, no that's fine. So…how was the concert?" I asked, sitting on the armrest of my sofa.

"Uh, it was…loud."

I laughed. "Not really a concert guy, are you?" He returned a tired laugh. "So, who's Bonnie? And Peter and Vivi?"

"Oh, right. They're my…well, friends I guess. I met Vivi Violence a couple of days ago and she asked if I would drive her and her friends to a few concerts." My mouth dropped. What? "Um…Sonny? Are you there?"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah. Um…"

"You know what? I'm really tired. Can we talk when you come over tomorrow?"

"Sure. What time would you like me to come over?"

"Um, any time is fine." He yawned again. "Sweet dreams, Sonny."

I smiled. "Yeah. You…you too, Chad. Good night."

When I turned around it was to be greeted by a disgruntled Lucy.


	8. Chain Choker

Chad

"Hey, Son—wait, you're…oh, hey Vivi." I allowed her inside and looked her over. She looked pretty upset and her heavy eyeliner had been disrupted, and was now in streaks down to her chin. "What's the matter? Oh, just throw your coat anywhere."

She sniffed and took off her plaid half-jacket and a hat she was wearing, the kind with the little earflaps with the pom-pom balls at the ends. "Heya, Chain." It was the name they'd given me on our way to the second concert. My last name was apparently Choker. Chain Choker. Sounds like one of Jack Skell's accessories.

"Come sit," I offered, sitting on the couch. She sat with her back to me on the armrest, then fell backwards so that her legs dangled over the armrest. "What's wrong, Vivi?"

She sighed and drew a shaky breath, wiping her cheeks. Then she moaned angrily, "So I found out why Laylin didn't come with us." I waited for more as she tried to collect herself. "She had to get to the abortion clinic."

This didn't seem like such shocking news to me. I mean, this was Hollywood after all. "Oh. Well I guess that…that would be a reason…" She twisted her torso around in an attempt to look at me right side up.

"You don't get it! I am dead set against abortion and she knows that! She's my best friend!"

"But she's still her own person…" I watched her wince and fall back down onto the cushions. "There's more, isn't there?"

"It was Pete's baby," she choked out in a melancholic whisper. Well, that certainly complicated thins. Pete had been Vivi's unofficial fiancé. Their parents didn't approve so they were going to wait to be legal, but for all intensive purposes, they had considered themselves married.

"I'm sorry…" I tried to comfort her, putting my hand on her shoulder awkwardly and then stroking her bangs. She took some shaky breaths and then put her face in her hands, sobbing deeply.

"She's such a bitch! Why'd she have to go and do that? And then Pete's a douche bag!"

"Hey, come here." I took her hands and pulled her towards me, and she sat up and threw her arms around me, crying into my shoulder as I stroked her hair. "You're right. They're both jerks. You deserve to be treated so much better."

I heard another knock at the door just then. "Oh…I'm sorry. I'm kind of expecting a friend…"

"Oh." She got up and wiped her tears frantically in attempt to make herself look decent.

"Um…you can go into my bathroom if you want…In the bottom drawer under the sink there's some eyeliner."

She nodded, sniffing, and walked off as I went to answer the door, letting in Sonny and "Lucy? Hey…unexpected…"

She crossed her arms and gave me a smile spiked with attitude. "So Sonny just…forgot to mention me. That's fabulous, Sonny. THAT'S FLIPPING FABULOUS!" she shouted to Sonny, who had retreated into the kitchen.

"Nice to see you, too," I said with a forced smile. She returned a pleasant one and I gestured for her to sit on the couch.

"Hey, Chad?"

"Yeah, Sonny?" I replied as I came over to her side, placing my hand on the small of her back, removing it apologetically when it looked like a shock had gone through her body.

"Um…whose jacket is that?" Her voice cracked a little.

I looked over at the wall where Vivi had put her things. "Oh. Vivi's here. When she comes back out I'll introduce you. Want some hot chocolate?" I asked, more to Sonny than her intruder—uh, friend.

She nodded and Lucy shouted, "Yeah!" so I pulled out the ingredients and started to heat up the pan. Chad Dylan Cooper doesn't do Swiss Miss packets.

"Hiyas." I turned around to see Vivi coming out of my room, hair freshly teased and everything.

"Oh. Vivi, this is Sonny and her intru—friend…friend…Lucy. Sonny, Lucy, this is Vivi Violence."

Sonny, still beside me, waved awkwardly at Vivi, eyes glued to her snakebites. "Hey, Vivi."

"Can I call you Viv?" Lucy asked, getting up to go shake Vivi's hand.

"Uh…I don't think so," she replied, backing away with a catty expression. "Stellar to meet you both. Hey, Chain?" She put her hand on my shoulder and I turned back to the hot chocolate. "Thanks. I think I'm gonna bounce."

"Oh, so soon?"

"Yeah. Well, nice talking with you. Laterz!"

---

"So…I didn't know you were such a scenester."

"Hmm?" I asked. I hadn't really been listening.

"I said," Sonny repeated. "I didn't know you were such a scenester."

I shook my head and swallowed my sip of chocolate. "I'm not. That's just Vivi and her friends."

"She called you 'Chain'," Lucy interjected.

"She gave me that nickname," I sneered. Her smirk fell into a frown and she mumbled something. "Oh, you know you love me." She looked away and I could see her cheeks turn red.

"Hey, Chad?" I turned my head back to Sonny. "I'm gonna take Lucy to the airport. I'll be back after." She came towards me, lips parted, but then glanced at her friend and backed away, then hugged me instead. "Bye."

"Bye, Chad! Thanks for the hot chocolate!" Lucy beamed. I swear, that chick's bipolar.


	9. I Guess It's Cold Outside

Sonny

On my way to the airport Lucy had accused me of being jealous of Vivi. Geez, I thought this girl was supposed to be my best friend, not my own personal life critic! Now I was on my way back to Chad's. The thought itself was welcoming. I caught myself smiling. Chad and I were really becoming great friends.

I mean, it was just friendship, right? Yeah, it totally was! Lucy was just getting to my head. Lucy. Now just thinking her name was unpleasant to me. But I found that the longer I tried to think through our situation and not be mad anymore, the more my mind drifted off to conversations Chad and I had had.

Determined to take my mind off of him, just as an experiment to prove at least to myself I wasn't crushing on him, I thought of Vivi Violence. She was really pretty. I liked her hair. Maybe I would do that? I'd have to ask Chad what he thought. I mean, he seemed to like it, or at least be okay with it. He let her come into his house, didn't he? Or maybe he was just nice like that…no, this was Chad. Though occasionally sweet, he was still pretty much a jerk.

I was thinking about him again. Well, hey, I was driving to his place, right? Of course I was thinking about him. That's perfectly normal. Stupid Lucy, trying to get into my head even after she was gone…

---

"Hey, Sonny! Good to see you again," Chad greeted, hugging my warmly. My hands were on his back as I returned the hug, and he pulled away sharply. "Whoa! Did you stick your fingers in snow before you got here? Come inside, warm up."

After ten minutes, the fire was roaring and I sat criss-crossed on the floor, my back to the sofa for support. I found myself thinking more than talking.

"You're thinking again," he said close to my ear. I shivered.

"Well, yeah, I'm being normal. Don't you ever stop to think?" I looked back at him on the couch from my place on the floor, and then back at the fire. "If you must know, I was thinking about…Vivi. She…seems nice…"

"Yeah, about that comment you made earlier, about her being a scenester or whatever?" I nodded, sort of nervous it had offended him. "Well, she may seem pretty hardcore sometimes, like…well, like when she escaped from her two-story window…" I looked back at him and he seemed to be rethinking something, but then shook his head. "But she's really just a girl. Albeit she has a crazy style, I mean, so do you, but she can be pretty responsible when called for."

I nodded. "You didn't need to defend her. I mean, she's your friend and you seem to like her. I can respect that."

I felt his hand on my shoulder and turned around. "But…I want you to be okay with her, too. I mean, she may be spending a bit more time around here and I want you both to feel comfortable around each other. You know?" I let out a singular laugh. "What?"

"Oh, it's just…you're really sweet, Chad."

"What? No I'm not!" he defended, withdrawing his hand and sitting up straighter.

"Don't be mad. It's a good thing! You play tough but you're a real softy." Okay, now I was just teasing him.

He huffed haughtily, putting on airs. "Chad Dylan Cooper is _stone_. Alright? Beautiful and tough as a statue."

"Yeah, a plaster one…" He glared at me and I just had to laugh. "Chill out, Chad. I'm just messing." I paused and decided to tease him again. "I mean, you'd have to be pretty hardcore to earn Chain status."

"Hey, Chain Choker is a perfectly respectable name!" I burst out laughing. Was he serious?

"Oh, is it, Chad? Is it _really_?" I asked in mimic of him. He was just setting himself up.

"Alright, you wanna like, go to the far other side of the room now?" He tried to act serious but joined me in jubilation. "I love you, Sonny. Really." I stopped and gave him an odd look. Did he really just say that? "Oh, don't read too much into that…it's something Vivi and the others just throw around…it basically means 'you're awesome'."

"Oh." We sat silently, but not bored, for what I think was five minutes. Finally I looked at the clock, and out of habit rose. "Well, it's nine…"

"What? But, Sonny…" He stood, hesitating when I turned to him, before saying, "It's…it's cold outside. Like…really cold. And all you've got's a thin sweater."

About to protest, I remembered how cold I had been upon entering his home.

"And your hands were like ice when you came in."

Well, it was true. And my mom wasn't home. I mean, I could stay as long as I wanted. "Alright…I guess I can stay."

He tried to hide the smile playing at the corners of his lips. "Cool." As I watched his face I saw him come to the realization that we really weren't doing much. "Um…you wanna watch a movie or something?"

"Sure!"

"Before you ask, I have _nothing_ with Johnny Depp in it."

"Huh?"

"Nothing." He sighed, seemingly relieved.


	10. Morning

Chad

I had awoken at around two to find I had fallen asleep, as had Sonny. She hadn't looked too comfortable on the floor, so I had moved her too the couch, covering her with a fleece blanket, and slept in my own bed. Now it was morning (as in sunrise, not that the clouds allowed for much sun) and I decided to go about my morningly routine, forgetting about the friend sleeping soundlessly on my sofa.

"Chad?" she yawned groggily, sitting up and stretching her arms.

"Oh. Morning, Sonny." I poured myself a glass of orange juice. "O.J?"

"Got any milk?"

I rolled my eyes. Well, of course. She had probably woken up to fresh milk from her pet cow Bessie every day back in Wisconsin. "It's skim."

"I'll just have water." I turned around to get a glass from the cupboard. "Oh, don't bother, I'll get it myself." She combed her fingers through her hair as she walked to join me in the kitchen, helping herself to a glass of tap.

"There's filtered in the fridge."

"Tap water tastes just fine," She sat down at the bar and sipped her water, occasionally rubbing her eyes or combing through her limp curls. "Wow, I was here all night! When did I fall asleep?"

"I dunno. I think I did first. The DVD player was on when I woke up this morning." I caught myself staring at her hair. Even though it wasn't brushed, it looked nice. Kind of like my hair, in a way; no matter what you do to it, it fails to look bad.

She almost choked on her water just then. "Oh my gosh! Christmas is like…nine days away! I still need a gift for Tawni!"

"Oh," I replied, uninterested. She glared at me. Did she really think that scared me? "Naw, I still don't get the gift thing." She rolled her eyes.

"You're impossible." Now she was picking up her sweater and scarf, slipping on her Converse. "It's been fun, Chad. I enjoyed last night." She blushed as she realized how that could have been taken. "The movie, I mean. It was really good. Well, I'll see you later!"

"Bye, Sonny!" I called as she slunk out the door. I wasn't worried; she'd be back.

I mean, not like I had worried the other times she had left. I just was equally not worried now.

It seemed like three minutes after Sonny had left when Vivi knocked frantically and yelled through the door. "CHAIN! OPEN UP! CHAIN!"

Stupid nickname. "Alright! Chill!" No sooner had I opened the door than her arms were around me. Then she let go and practically flew to the other side of the room, jumping up and down excitedly. "Okay, spill! What are _you_ so thrilled about this morning?"

"Sally figured out a way for Jack, Bonnie Bones, Bonnie Bloodlust, Gabe and I to follow Silverstein on tour! Like, in different countries and everything!" She squealed.

"And…why are you telling me this?"

She leaned forward and placed her hands on my shoulders. "'Cause I want you to come, too, silly!"

I considered this. Following a band I didn't even know, on tour, across the country and more, with some girl and her friends I had met less than a week ago? "How long would…you know…it take?"

"The tour is like a year and a half…but we might turn around after like 8 months. You never know, right?" She stood up straight now, fiddling with a strand of her hair. "Wha'd'ya think? Coming?"

"A year and a half?" I tried not to shout. "Vivi, wow…um, I don't think I can do that. For one thing, I kinda have a show to do." She looked like she was about to kick herself. "And…you know, I like you and everything, but…I mean, why don't you just get Crystal to come?"

"I…guess I could do that…but I kinda wanted to go with you." She shifted her weight to her heels and bit her lip, twirling a strand of pink hair in her fingers.

Oh, gosh. "Oh, Vivi, I'm so sorry. I'm not interested. In going. I mean, I'm interested but…I'm not too familiar with the band and everything…" I used my eyes to portray the rest of what I was trying to convey.

It was hard watching her smile fade. "Oh. Well…Merry Christmas, I guess. Call me whenev." And with that, she left. And I felt something new. Guilt, maybe? Heard about it…read about it…never actually felt it. Until now.

More guy friends. That was a goal.


	11. Brightside

**Sorry for the delay, folks...it was too short, and then I got carried away and now I fear it's too long...**

**I thank you all for your comments! I smile every time I get an email from this site. :)  
**

* * *

Sonny

I'd pretty much given up on shopping blind, so now I was in the car on my way to Tawni's, my iPod on shuffle plugged into the speakers.

The chorus was on and I was already thinking about Chad again. On my way down I had seen a beaming Vivi practically skipping to his room. I had wondered what she was so happy about, and now I was wondering what they were doing.

And my stomach is sick

_And it's all in my head_

_But she's touching his_

_Chest, now_

_He takes off her dress, now_

_Letting me go…_

Ah. I hadn't listened to that song in awhile. However I didn't tune out for long. The image of Vivi in Chad's apartment faded into her on his couch, on hands and knees beside him, babbling cheerily and him smiling back.

I just can't look

_It's killing me…_

Then I could see her on his lap…_quit it, Sonny! Tune out._

_Jealousy_

_Turning saints into the sea…_

I turned it off. Stupid Killers, I wasn't jealous! I sighed. Now every time I heard that song I was going to picture Chad with Vivi. Don't you just _love_ that?

---

My face still hurt from where Tawni had slapped me. How was I supposed to know her boyfriend was over? "How dare you just barge in without warning while I'm here trying to enjoy my man!" Such a drama queen! It's a wonder she's not on_ Mackenzie Falls_.

Why did my mind always go there? I mean, Chad and I were friends, but if anyone could read my thoughts they'd probably think I was in love with him or something!

Well, now I was headed back to Chad's. I hoped Vivi wasn't still there. But why would she be, right? I mean, Chad knew I was coming back over…then again he did have a habit of losing track of time…

I knocked on his door and he answered almost immediately, then engulfed me in a hug the moment he saw me. "Well…hello to you, too, Chad!"

"Sorry! I was just thinking about this crazy thing Vivi told me…" He practically dragged me to the sofa but finally let me go and his warmth left me. "And I think…I think she likes me."

That song flashed back into my head. I looked at his face, and he looked more worried than flattered or haughty. "Why is that so bad?"

"Well…I don't like her back. And she's kind of my friend now…I don't want to hurt her." He sighed. "But there's not much I can do now. I won't see her for a long time." His same old CDC smile crept onto his lips. "Well, at least I won't have to worry about that anymore."

At first I wondered why he wasn't going to see her, and then I realized I really didn't care. It didn't matter to him, so now it wasn't going to matter to me. But I still wanted to know…

"So how…how close are you?"

"Me and Vivi? Oh…" Chad thought a moment, as if hesitant to tell me too much. "I guess we're…were…I dunno…close enough for her to break down on my couch."

I stared at him a minute. "Normally you'd be annoyed by that."

"Hmm?"

"Nothing. So…you thinking about getting her something for Christmas?" I asked in attempt to brighten the atmosphere.

He gave me a look as if I were crazy. "Do you know me _at_ all?" He rolled his eyes at me and then reverted to staring at the wall, the knuckle of his index finger pressed to his lips and his other fingers curled loosely. His eyes looked wonderful from that angle. Stupid lighting…

"Well…what about your other friends?"

"What, you mean Crystal Corpse and all them?"

"Well, not just them…you've made other friends, right?" He nodded with a smile, and then grimaced.

"Sort of. Naw, no. Janna is NOT my friend." A jealous expression crossed his face. I wanted to hear more. "NOT my friend…" he kept muttering.

I sat on the sofa beside him, on my hands and knees like I had pictured Vivi.

Stupid song!

"Okay, you have to tell me who she is and why you look like she's dating Zac Efron."

He shot me a look filled with hatred. "Go put a dollar in the swear jar now!"

"You have a swear jar?"

He hesitated, making some weird gesture with his hands. "Well, no…but that name remains a curse word in my presence." Chad's cheeks were so red. It took all I could muster not to laugh at him. "Right….Janna. Well…she's my neighbor, sort of. She lives in the room just above mine."

I waited for him to say more, leaning in closer, still on my hands and knees. "And?"

He looked at me a moment and his mind went blank. Then he looked away. "Oh, uh, yeah. Completely obsessed with Johnny Depp." I burst out laughing. "No, like unhealthily obsessed! You should see her wall!"

"You don't like Johnny Depp, huh?" I…could have some fun with this.

He saw the mischief in my expression and his eyes got wide. "Don't you dare, Sonny Munroe!"

"Could it be because he's been voted 'Sexiest Man Alive' several times now?"

"I mean it, stop!"

I crawled towards him. He backed up to the armrest, hands balancing him behind his back. "Or maybe it's because he's such a fabulous actor." I couldn't help grinning as he glared at me. "Or maybe it's the way he can still look attractive as the Mad Hatter."

His eyes relaxed. "Okay, that's pushing it."

"Yeah," I admitted, kind of sorry about my lost victory. I looked down and realized I was straddling him. Blushing, I pushed myself back up and just sat, looking awkwardly away from him. When I glanced at Chad he seemed equally awkward. "I'm sorry about that."

"Yeah." There never used to be this many awkward silences between us. "Well, you're probably about to run off with some lame excuse now."

I gave him a sideways look but I knew how he had come to that conclusion. "Well, you know, Chad…it _is_ pretty late. And…I'll probably fall asleep driving."

He looked away but I could tell he was smiling.


	12. His Heart Grew Three Sizes That Day

**Ugh, sorry this is so horrifyingly short. But in case you haven't noticed I'm alternating POV per chapter, don't really want to break the pattern. No "Channy"ness in this chapter, sorry.**

* * *

Chad

I awoke the morning of the 18th to an empty house. Well, almost empty. There was a sofa, freshly slept in, with a neatly folded blue blanket. On the blanket, there resided a note, explaining why Sonny had left so early. However, it didn't matter the reason. It only mattered that she was gone.

I needed a break from my everyday routine. So, Chad Dylan Cooper set out to do what Chad Dylan Cooper never thought he would. I was going to purchase…

Christmas gifts.

---

I hate shopping around Christmas time. It's even worse when you're me. Despite my attempts to keep a low profile, I'd been pestered by crazy fangirls since the moment I stepped inside the strip mall that day.

I checked the clock on the wall as I entered the door, arms abundant with gifts even I was surprised I had looked for. It was five fifteen. Sonny would be heading over soon, and I needed to make sure she didn't leave. I picked up my phone, hurrying to get things in order before I would leave.

"Hey, Vivi, it's Chain."

"Yeah. Caller ID," she replied with attitude, making me feel like an idiot.

"Right. Hey, you still in town?"

The coldness went right out of her voice. "Well, if by 'town' you mean South Lake Tahoe…why, you thinking of coming?"

"You mean like…Nevada?"

"Well, not yet. We're still on the road and we just past Fallen Leaf. That means we're still in California. But we'll be staying at the Ridge View for a couple of days, which is in Nevada, so yeah. Nevada. Did you change your mind?" She sounded hopeful.

"Not quite…you'll see. Ridge View? Which room?"

After acquiring necessary details pertaining to this surprise, I resolved to visit Janna. It took some second-guessing and fighting against my conscience, but I arrived at her door.

You can't exactly say she was pleased to see me. "Well. It's been awhile since I've seen _your_ sorry face. Except in _Tween Weekly_, but that's different." She folded her arms across her chest. I noticed a gold medallion hanging from a leather cord around her neck and tried not to completely lose it.

Flashing my most attractive smile, I stated more than asked, "I can't come in?"

She let her guard down for a split second, probably due to drifting into my sparkly eyes. But she held her ground. "No, you can't. You're a jerk and I deserve better friends than you."

That stung. "Oh…listen, Janna, I'm sorry about that—"

"You should be!" she fumed. "I was just trying to be a good friend, a good neighbor, and you just take one look at the surface and completely skip me over! No, worse! You stick me with a metaphorical needle and then toss me, metaphorically, out your metaphorical window! Only a jerk would do something like that!"

I took a deep breath and smiled pleasantly. "Right. Because only a jerk would offer to take you to the premier of _Alice in Wonderland_. When it comes out, of course." Her jaw dropped as I handed her a ticket. "Merry Christmas. I'll call you."

It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, the whole present thing.


	13. Reindeer Games

**Again, sorry for the delay...I usually update three times a day. In explanation, this morning I picked up the fourth book of Fablehaven I got for Christmas and well...it's all a blur...and now I'm halfway through and in a pickle as the fifth doesn't come out until March...but you probably don't care.**

**Thank you so much for your patience, subscriptions, favorites and reviews! It just warms my heart, it really does. Well, read on!  
**

**Cute Channy moment here, just sayin'. ;)  
**

* * *

Sonny

I was just getting ready to leave my tinsel-clad abode when I opened the door to an unexpected knock. "Chad? Hey, come in!" I greeted, truly surprised. I looked around the apartment, worried it wasn't presentable. "I was just about to leave, actually."

"Hey, Sonny." He stepped inside, hands behind his back, keeping his front to me as I closed the door. "I decided we needed to switch things up a bit. So I came over here. Hope that's fine."

His smile was warm and genuine. I wondered what he was up to. "Oh, I forgot my manners. Would you like something to drink? I mean, I don't have amazing hot chocolate or anything, but…"

"Water's fine."

"It's tap."

He winced, then smiled. "That's fine."

Suspicious, I walked into the familiar kitchen and reached up into the cupboard for the last short glass. I'd have to run a wash soon. You keep forgetting things like that when you don't have a parent breathing down your neck—I mean…I love my mommy very dearly!

I put in a couple of ice cubes, registering that the ice tray was empty, and filled the glass with water, bringing it out to my guest who had taken the liberty of making himself at home on my couch. Typical Chad.

I joined him. "So…oh, I'm sorry I left this morning without telling you. Was that rude?" Wait, what exactly would Chad consider rude?

"No, I mean, you left a note, so…" He took a sip and grimaced, setting the glass aside and fixing his eyes on the false Christmas tree in the corner by the TV. "Fake tree? I thought you of all people would have a real one."

"Oh, well…this is my first Christmas here and my mom and I are still settling in, and this tree was like $10 so we sprung for it." I examined the deceptive pine needles and plain white fairy lights in utter disappointment. "Though it would be nice to have that fresh evergreen smell."

I glanced over at Chad. He was nodding as if he knew what I was talking about, but I could tell he didn't. I mean, would Chad Dylan Cooper, self-proclaimed Greatest Actor of Our Generation, stoop to trudging through a frost-covered tree farm for hours and yell for some sweaty guy with a saw to chop down a sappy tree? Most likely not.

But I loved it. I missed it.

"If you had the chance to replace this with a real tree," he mused, resting his chin on his fist without really looking at me, "would you ditch this one and put it up?"

"Well, yeah! In seconds! But…my hands are kinda tied at current, you know? It's already hard enough trying to live on my own my first year in this place. I mean, California's pretty insane."

"Yeah, ha…" he chuckled, partially listening. Did he always have to tune me out?

"You know, in most cultures it's considered rude to pay half attention to the host." He gave me an apologetic look and I softened. "But I can let it slide." A few monotonous moments passed without conversation. I noted this about us; we could talk for hours and hours at times, and then not have anything to say to one another. "So, what did you have behind your back when you came in?"

This sparked his interest. He looked at me in surprise, with a hint of guilt, and then narrowed his eyes with a skeptical look, a smirk playing on his lips. "Was I hiding something, Sonny?"

"Yeah, you were."

"Was I, Sonny? Was I really?"

I rolled my eyes and saw him conceal laughter. "Really, Chad? We're playing _this_ game?"

"Oh, so…" He adjusted himself to sit up straighter. "We're playing a game, then? Why, is this fun to you?"

Facepalm. "Come on, Chad. Mature up." I stood and walked around to the back of the couch, behind where Chad sat. He got up and faced me, sofa between us. "Tell me what you had!"

He crossed his arms. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I grinned, subtly fingering a holly garland resting on the decorative table behind the couch. "Tell me!" I flung it at him and he put his arms up for protection. The festive garland draped itself over his shoulder for a second before sliding off.

He looked down at the decoration, then gave me a sideways look. "Oh. Oh yeah, it's on."

Before we knew it the entirety of the living room was a mess, holiday decorations on the sofa, sofa cushions on the ground, and garlands of tinsel draping lazily over furniture.

"You do realize who's cleaning all this up, right?" I asked, breathless as I relaxed myself against the armrest.

Chad's victorious smile vanished and he frantically checked his phone. "Oh, will you look at the time! I've gotta drive like…eight hours to Tahoe tomorrow, better rest up, bye!"

He dashed towards the door but I beat him to it, back to the wall and my arms spread out against it, my body inches from his. He backed up a pace.

"Let me through, Sonny."

"Clean the room, Chad."

"Let. Me. Through. Sonny."

"Clean. Up. First. Chad," I taunted, equally as stubborn. He stepped closer to me with a serious expression and my sure smile faltered. He placed his hands on my hips and my arms slacked.

"Let me through, Sonny," he repeated softly. My arms dropped more as our eyes locked. He grinned and took me closer to him, then moved me aside and opened the door, giving me his signature wink. "Thanks, you're a gem."

Unbelievable. Boy, he was cunning! I slammed the door, turned around and crossed my arms, assessing the room. He'd won twice in the same night.

But he was fun in a tinsel fight, I had to give him that.


	14. Simple Things

Chad

The drive to Tahoe was long and tedious, yet treacherous as I ascended the mountain thanks to the black ice. And my car wasn't exactly built for below freezing.

I found the front door to the timeshare to be open, which I was grateful for, because though it was now 3pm, it was freezing up there. I stepped into the beaten-up sorry excuse for an elevator and pressed the button for six, almost able to feel how many filthy, frostbitten fingers had touched it before me.

I didn't question that I had knocked on the correct door, because aside from the blaring music, I could distinctly hear Crystal Corpse's twinkling laugh.

Jack greeted me at the door. He had a tendency to look intimidating, and I almost dropped my box of gifts. I composed myself and smiled charmingly. "Hey, Jack, my man! Can I come in?"

His eyes looked me up and down and he stood aside. "Sure."

The place was actually pretty nice, decked out in woodland-like decorations. There were paintings of bears and quaking aspens on the walls. It was pretty spacious, and there was a flight of stairs to the immediate right of the doorway, leading up to a loft.

Six heads turned in my direction, letting five gasps escape, and a couple of girlish squeals as Vivi and Crystal rushed to engulf me in a hug. "Hey, mah girls!" I set the box down on the round table across from the kitchenette and walked over to the window, where a sofa and love seat accommodated Gabe and the Bonnies. Gabe smiled at me and Bonnie Bones waved, while Bonnie Bloodlust just stroked her pink-and-black hair. I turned around to spy Sally sitting on the counter of the kitchenette, soon joined by Jack.

"Heyz, what brings ya?" Crystal cheered as she sat, tugging my arm in gesture for me to do the same. I complied.

"Presents. And to wish you guys Merry Christmas." I received gracious smiles from everyone on that one. I went over to the box and withdrew several smaller boxes, handing them out to everyone except Vivi. I didn't know what to get them so they each would be receiving $50 Hot Topic gift cards. Crystal beamed when she opened hers.

I smiled knowingly when Vivi gave me a confused look, and then went back to the box and withdrew a necklace box. She put a hand to her mouth as I opened it, revealing a short length of chain with a silver heart dangling from the middle of it. As I lifted it out she pulled her tortured hair up and I fastened the choker around her neck.

"It's…well, a chain choker." I winked and witnessed her blushing. "Since, you know…you can't take the real thing with you."

"Chain, thanks. It's the best!" she gushed, rising to give me another hug.

I said my goodbyes and apologized for not staying longer, but the truth was that I had an urge to do something, and if I didn't do it now I never would.

---

A deep breath of glacial air filled my lungs as I rubbed my hands together, hesitating to knock on the polished cabin door for a third time. Finally my gloved fist struck the door. Moments later, a surprised woman in her early forties, sporting a red turtleneck paired with blue skinnies and tan Uggs, stood frozen in the doorway, not from the weather but from who stood outside to greet her.

An uncomfortably chilling breeze toyed with her short blonde curls, and her light blue eyes looked me over with confusion. "Chad?"

I shifted my weight to my other foot and rubbed my arm, not meeting her gaze. "Hi, Mom," I uttered.

She smiled at me maternally, and when she hugged me the chill of the Tahoe air dissolved. Though I had seen her three months ago, it felt like meeting her for the first time in years. The smile on her face radiated joy like I'd never seen from her. I'd make a point to see this lady more often.


	15. O Christmas Tree

**Thank you ever so kindly for your patience, and reviews. Sorry, I kind of took a little break to do a Fablehaven oneshot that was just screaming my name...if you have a chance, I'd like you to read it and see what you think (Dragon Sprite).**

**OOH, littletrickster...tempting idea. However I don't see how I can make that fit fluidly...  
**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter...I think it's pretty sweet, but Chad might be a bit OOC. Ah, well...it's my story, I can do what I want.  
**

* * *

Sonny

It was eleven thirty now. I was worried sick. I mean, you would be, too, if you drove all the way over to his place and back, then back again, calling his cell number to no avail the whole way back home!

So, I felt he had no right to just show up at my door at this late hour, with his stupid smirk on his face as if nothing had happened.

"Chad, you have some nerve!" His hand stopped me from slamming the door right in his smug little face.

"Sonny, come on…"

"Go away, Chad!"

"Sonny!"

"I don't want to talk to you right now!"

"SONNY!" One of his feet was against the doorframe, the other holding the door ajar. One hand was against the frame for extra support, and the other was holding on to my wrist. He had a firm grip so my persistent wriggling was useless. "Will you calm down? It's been a long, humiliating day and I have a long, humiliating story which I would be glad to tell you, so just sit…down!"

I stopped squirming and he let me go so I could cross my arms. "Well?"

"Like I said: it's long and humiliating. And it ends with this." He stepped back and opened the door more, gesturing for me to step into the hall.

My hands flew to my mouth and I was instantly sorry for being cross with him. "Oh, Chad…you did this for me?"

Sitting propped against the hall's wall was a small evergreen sparse with long, thick limbs at the bottom, tapering up to a slender point.

"If you'll help me get it inside, I'll consider it an apology," he suggested. I blushed.

"Why…why don't we get inside?"

---

"So you went to Tahoe today?" I asked, trying to be nonchalant as Chad helped me unwind the lights from my artificial tree.

"Yeah…I had gotten some p—something for Vivi and the others…"

"Like…presents?" I asked, peeking around the back of the tree to meet his eyes. He looked up at the top of the tree.

"Pfsh, why do you care?"

I was impressed and proud at the same time. "Oh my gosh! Chad Dylan Cooper actually got _presents_for someone?"

"_An_yways," he interrupted, giving me a hard look as he reached for a string of tinsel at the top, which we had missed. "then I went to visit…" I could tell he immediately regretted progressing his tale.

"Who, Chad?" I dropped the lights I was holding and steadied the tree. His eyes flicked to me and he made a face, looking away without saying anything. "Chad. Who?"

"Let's just finish the tree, okay?" He reached around to grab some of the wire, and I put my hand on his. His eyes shot up to meet mine.

"Chad, you can tell me. Come on."

I let go and he returned to his work, not speaking for a while. "My mom. I mean, I know that kind of thing might not be huge to you…but…"

"Aw! Chad! That's so sweet! I bet she was surprised." Now we were taking apart the tree. "So?"

"So…so?"

"So, what happened?"

He shifted uncomfortably as he put the top part of the tree in the box. "Well…first we didn't really say much. We were sort of like…strangers. But then we just talked about like…life and stuff and, I dunno. It was kinda nice, just connecting with each other. I can't remember any time we'd felt so comfortable around each other."

My heart almost melted. "Aw, Chad! That must have been really out of your comfort zone. What made you decide to go see your mom?"

He walked over to the other side of the room and returned with the real tree, and I steadied the base as he inserted it. I screwed it in place with a bit of hassle, wiped my sappy hands on my jeans, and stood back to admire our work.

"Chad? You gonna answer me?"

"Hmm?"

"What made you decide to see your mom?"

He seemed surprised by my question, taken a bit off guard, and his gaze shifted uncomfortably. He stuck his hands in his pocket and rocked back and forth on his feet, looking everywhere but at me.

"Well…you…"

"Huh?" I cocked my head. "Wait, what do you mean me?"

"Well, in a sense…the whole gift thing came from you."

I bit my lower lip and looked at him anxiously. What was he saying?

He exhaled in frustration, more at himself, and interlocked his hands behind his head, pivoting around on one heel and pacing away from me. "How do you _do_ that? I hang out with you for what, two weeks? And your niceness just rubs off on me in the most…heartwarming ways!" He had turned back around and I saw him wince as he said "heartwarming".

I had to laugh. He looked at me in desperation, as if I were laughing at a very serious addiction he had. "Chad, who knew? You actually _can _be unselfish."

He started smiling uncertainly, and laughed softly along with me. Then Chad's serious face came back. "This stays between us. So…how about we decorate this bad boy?"


	16. Armour

**MakeMeCrazier: OOC means "out of character" :) and as to your second question...read on ;)**

Thank you for all your awesome reviews! Particularly today I need the reassurance. :)

Sorry it took so long to produce only one meager chapter...I was gone all day today. SORRY FOR THE WAIT and thanks for your patience.

* * *

Chad

December 21st, I awoke alone again in my room, wondering why I had bothered to drive all the way back to my home at three in the morning. Already I wanted to see Sonny. _Admit it, Chad. You like her, _something said to me. I shook it off. That couldn't be possible, I didn't like Sonny Munroe! Not like that, at least. Right?

Once I was in the shower, fully awake, I thought to myself, _Of course I don't like her…my mind was just messed up because I had just woken up. Stupid, tired mind._

The entire day reminded me of Sonny, and the entire day kept my mind on guard for those stupid sneaking suggestions that we should be more. I second-guessed everything, denied everything, on defense the whole day.

Until Sonny actually came to the door that night.

"Hey, Sonny," I said, leaning casually on the doorframe. "Kinda weird inviting you in when we've practically spent every night together lately. Uh…well, you know what I mean."

"Yeah…heh…" Sonny looked at me uncomfortably, as if she felt I was in dire need of medical attention.

I stepped aside to let her in. "If I get too crazy, I have a jacket in the closet that makes me hug myself…just in case," I joked, winking at her. She laughed.

"So…Christmas is like…four days away."

"I know! It's scary!" Her expression instantly displayed a feeling of anxiousness. "I haven't found Tawni a gift still…"

I rolled my eyes. "Just get her like…a bracelet or something, come on. I mean, she's Tawni. She probably won't give you anything anyway."

She rolled her eyes. Well, of course she did. She was Sonny, she was always serious about these things. "I keep thinking I'll wake up the next day and just _know_ the perfect thing to give her."

"Sonny," I said in as stern a voice as I could manage, starting some hot chocolate. "It'll be fine. Come on, settle down. Put in a movie. Put on some music, something."

"Well…but I need to think…"

"No, you need to rest your brain. You know, like the puzzle epiphany thing." Wait, how was she going to know what that was? I glanced up to a correctly guessed pondering gaze, and launched into a quick explanation. "You know what I mean. When you worked on a puzzle when you were 12, or something. You'd have a really hard time after getting the edges together, right? And you'd fill it in, and then you absolutely could not put together any more of it, until like a half hour of TV."

I watched her think about this, her lips hesitating but finally resolving to form into a smile. She reached over to the small table in the corner and tuned to some Christmas music. Once I had finished the hot chocolate I sat beside her, just admiring the way her hair fell over her shoulders when the station played _All I Want For Christmas is You_.

Sonny beat me in switching stations to one playing _Feliz Navidad_. "Songs are starting to get on my nerves…" I heard her mumble.

"What do you mean?"

She studied my face for a moment, thinking with her mouth open. "It's just…I feel like they're trying to control my feelings. I mean, it's been suggested a _thousand_ times that we have feelings for each other. But we're barely just friends."

I began to say something.

"We…I mean, we _are_ friends, right?" she stumbled.

"We—uh, yeah. I mean, totally. Obviously."

"Yeah. I mean, someone would have to be an idiot to think I had feelings for you. I mean really. Something would have happened long ago, right?"

I don't know why, but it kind of hurt a little to hear her say that. Well, I mean, of course I would! No one in their right mind could resist Chad Dylan Cooper. "Right. Well, I wouldn't say that _you_ have no feelings. But it can't be helped…it's just a part of my natural Chadness."

She rolled her eyes yet again, this time with a smile on her face, taking a sip of her steaming beverage. "You have _got _to tell me what you do to this to make it the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted."

I smirked and nodded. "No, don't think so."

"Come on! Really!"

"All I'm going to tell you is that it doesn't just take warm water and a packet of chocolate powder with condensed marshmallows." Just thinking about those gritty little white puffs made me cringe. "It requires much more work."

She gave me a look both inquisitive and intrigued. "I didn't know you'd lift a finger…especially for some hot chocolate."

"Ha, yeah…I don't trust anyone to make it as well as I do." I shifted uncomfortably, unsure if I should elaborate. "Except my mom…she showed me the recipe."

"Aw…"

"Don't start, Munroe."

Hey! I was being serious! Why was she laughing?

---

"So, uh…I know you weren't prepared or anything but, you wanna stay the night? It gets pretty boring waking up alone every morning." I quickly regretted my words, realizing I had come across as desperate.

"You know, Chad, I really shouldn't. I'd…I don't know, kind of like a night alone." I must have looked hurt, because she added, "Well, I mean…I like staying with you. But I really should get going."

"Well…I guess…"

She leaned over, less sure this time, and kissed my cheek in rising to get her things. "Goodnight, Chad."

I couldn't come up with a good enough mental excuse as to why I didn't want her to leave.


	17. Twas The Night Before

**Eke, only 600 words...but you'll thank me when you read the next chapter ;)**

**

* * *

  
**

Sonny

How was it already the 23rd? I had shipped my gift to Zora and wrapped (with difficulty) Grady's slinky and spray paint, placing Nico's comic books in a gift box, which fitted them snugly. I had even gotten something for Chad, though it wasn't much, just a leather bracelet with a single blue bead. I had given a lot of thought to it, and assumed he would never use what I gave him anyways.

But what on earth was I going to get for Tawni? For the third time that day I closed my laptop in yet another failed attempt to find Coach within my price range. Well, even if I did, it would probably be too out-dated for Tawni.

I couldn't just leave this alone! But I was at a dead end.

---

Christmas Eve was almost gone, and I was physically in Chad's home, but mentally in a state of worry. I had never not given a close friend something for Christmas. And I mean, I could get her something meaningless like what I did for Chad, but Tawni deserved better…plus the fact that I worked with her every day gave her license to make my life torture.

"Sonny? Hey, you okay?" Chad had stopped in front of me on the way over to the radio, only his face towards me. "This is about the Tawni thing, isn't it? Come on, forget her. She causes you misery."

He chuckled. He seriously just chuckled? "Yeah? So do you but I got _you_ something!"

He stepped back a bit and acted like he was about to sit by me. "You…you did?"

"Yeah…" I dug around in my purse and pulled out the small black box, tied with a sparkling blue ribbon. He seemed unimpressed with the size, but tried to appreciate the gesture anyways. "I mean, we're friends. I'm serious when I say that Christmas is a big deal."

Now he looked like he was about to cry, but I didn't know why. The silver tree in the corner harbored many a large gift, extravagantly wrapped. "Th—thanks, Sonny. You really…you shouldn't have."

Again I'd stayed late. I'd not stayed the night since two days before he had left for Tahoe and he now I suspected he would ask what he asked right then.

"Hey, I don't know you didn't really plan on it, but…do you want to stay the night?"

"Chad…"

"I'll let you sleep in my bed. I'll take the couch."

"Well…"

"I've some extra bed clothes…they're really comfortable." His eyes looked pleading and lonely.

"And it's cold outside, right, Chad?" I joked.

He let out a frustrated sigh. "It's Christmas Eve." He paused to let me think this over, pure blue eyes penetrating into mine. "No one should be alone on Christmas morning, Sonny. Especially not you."

I bit the side of my lower lip. He mimicked me and a sensation like butterflies filled my stomach, though I knew it couldn't be. I only got those when I was with a guy I had a crush on. "All—alright. But you don't have to give up your bed…"

"No, really. I can survive a night without it."

Was the selfish Chad just an act?


	18. Uncertainty

**Another short chapter ;) but I know you'll love it! Based on your take on Chad's cute side...yeah, you're gonna like it. I KNOW YOU WILL!**

WARNING: the following part of this author's note contains nothing pertaining to SwaC  
Joker236 - I actually still have 100 pages left in the fourth book so I can't exactly discuss the ending yet...but that is so cool, you actually have a friend named Gavin Rose?? Too cool!

* * *

Chad

Right in the middle of a good dream, or so I think, though I couldn't really remember, I awoke with a terrifying revelation: I was in love with Sonny Munroe.

No, no, it couldn't be true! I was just tired. It was way early in the morning. My emotions were just being amplified by grogginess. Obviously!

But I couldn't get back to sleep. It wasn't because I was lying on a leather couch; the awkward coolness of it was actually pretty comfortable. I decided maybe I could get back to sleep after washing my face, maybe brushing my teeth. Cleanliness helps me sleep. However, upon returning from my endeavors to the place of my sleeping, I realized this was not the case. I was going to have to prove to myself I didn't like Sonny.

Again I got up, making my way purposefully to the bed where Sonny lay, stopping abruptly in the doorway once the weight of what I was about to do hit me. Hey, come on. I didn't feel anything for her. This was no big deal.

I crept up to my bed and pulled back the gauzy white curtain. The full moon was right out the window, casting a blue glow over sleeping Sonny, allowing my eyes to see little more than her outline. The longer I looked at her, the more I could see; her face towards the ceiling, a peaceful across it; a slacked fist upon the pillow beside her head, her other arm under the comforter. Her brown, wavy hair was splayed out around her head on the pillow.

I took a deep breath, though I don't know why, and leaned my head down toward hers.

I could hear her soft breathing

I could hear her heart beating.

I steadied myself with hands on either side of her head, coming impossibly close to her face until I finally kissed her soft lips.

When I pulled away my eyes were wide, mind clouded by a multitude of thoughts and feelings. I pulled off a triumphant smile as I left the room, thinking falsely, _I knew it. That was nothing, see, Chad?_

---

A sweet voice woke me while it was still dark out, and I opened my eyes to a heavenly vision of Sonny, her hand hesitating to rest on my shoulder, and then pulling away. I could see she was now regretting coming out here. Her brown eyes looked worried. "Chad?"

I sat up as best I could, still almost too tired to keep my eyes open. "What is it, Sonny?"

She shook her head and walked uncertainly back towards my room. "Nevermind." I stopped her by grabbing her wrist and she looked back at me with fear.

I tried my nicest face and made room on the couch for her to join me. "No, Sonny…really, what is it?"

She made no attempt at speech but continued to glance over at me, in an almost ashamed manner.

"Did you need to tell me something?" I prompted, placing my hand over hers between us. She seemed at a loss for words. "Was it…this?" I leaned toward her, shocking myself with how eagerly I was doing this, and faltered, stopping inches away from her.

Surprisingly, she picked up where I had left off.


	19. Christmas Morning

**Sorry it's taking so long; it's killing me to write all this romantic stuff lately, and I was busy yesterday. I appreciate your reviews! And again apologize for taking so long.  
**

**WARNING: the following part of this authors note contains nothing pertaining to SwaC  
I finished the fourth book of FABLEHAVEN and am both astonished and shocked beyond words at such an unexpected plot twist. I did NOT see that coming.**

**And I think I have a crush on Raxtus HAH!**

* * *

Sonny

It's a bit awkward waking up in someone else's bed in their house on Christmas. Especially when you're pretty certain you kissed them the night before. But, I wasn't even sure I had; it had felt like a dream.

Well, if it wasn't a dream, Chad was doing a pretty good job hiding it. It had to be a dream. Besides, I don't even like him…right?

But as I leaned against the wall, absently rubbing my arm as I watched Chad drink his orange juice, I kept remembering him coming in while I was on the brink of sleep…

"Oh. Hey, Sonny! Didn't see you there!" He gestured towards the orange juice as if to ask if I wanted any. I shook my head. "Well, Merry Christmas."

About to utter a similar greeting, I noticed my phone vibrating over on the coffee table where I had left it. "Merry Christmas, Chad," I said, walking over and picking up my phone.

Seventeen texts, all from my mom. I opened them and started reading, cringing a little each time.

"Something wrong, Honey?" I could swear he said.

"Huh—what?"

"I…said, 'something wrong, Sonny?'"

"Oh…right…um, it's just my mom…she wasn't supposed to come home until the thirty first, but she texted me last night apparently…and this morning, when she arrived and saw I wasn't home…"

"Oh. So you're in trouble, I presume."

Presume? "Well, no, I'll just say I was at a friend's house and she'll assume it was Tawni. Um, I should probably call her and get going."

---

Getting back into my same clothes that morning gave me a deep desire to shower. I'd called my mom, who, as I had assumed, was freaking out. After giving me a short phone lecture on why I should always tell her when I'm planning to sleep over, my mom demanded I come home right that minute. However, I wasn't done here.

"Merry Christmas, Sonny," Chad bid, unsuccessfully disguising his disappointment. After I left, he would be alone again. Or maybe he was sad to see me leave because…no, that had been a dream. Right?

"I'm not leaving _just_ yet."

He perked up a bit. Now I was really confused as to our supposed encounter last night.

"I wanna see you open your gift from me!" I cheered, dashing for the tree and coming to an abrupt halt on my knees, like a child would on this morning. Chad joined me by my side and I felt an unmistakable sense of butterflies. I wasn't going to deny it, I liked him, at least a little.

"Well…okay, then," he said, picking up the little black box and swiftly snapping the blue ribbon which drifted to the ground, and lifted the lid. His brow crinkled as he held the humble bracelet up, seeing the single bead sparkle in the light. "It's…it's actually really nice, Sonny. Thanks."

I blushed. Come on, he was just saying that, right? But Chad wasn't nice enough to do that…right? "You're welcome, Chad."

I picked up my things and headed for the door, but Chad called out, "Sonny, I um…"

Turning around, eager to hear his words, I stepped towards him. "Yeah?"

"Uh…Merry Christmas. Hap—happy New Year, too."

I kissed him on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, Chad."

The hopeful yet confused look on his face made me decide last night hadn't been a dream, and I kissed him again, this time on his lips, quickly. Then he hugged me to him and we kissed, more passionately this time, and I dropped everything I had been carrying, closing the door behind me as we continued, finally breaking apart when the back pocket of my jeans started vibrating.

A bit out of breath, I fished out my phone. "Yeah, Mom. Sorry, I'm on my way." Chad gave me a longing look as I collected my things again and left.

---

"Sonny Bunny!" my mom screamed as I came through the door, holding onto a cheerful smile. She received me in a warm embrace. "Baby, I've missed you! Merry Christmas, Sweetie!"

"Hi, Mom! You too," I greeted. It was so good to see her again, I nearly cried. I hadn't realized until now how much I'd missed her.

"The tree looks wonderful! How did you get a _real_ tree all up and decorated by yourself?" she asked.

"Oh. Chad picked it out, actually. He helped me set it up." Immediately I regretted even letting my mom know I'd had a boy in our apartment. However, she was so full of holiday cheer that she didn't seem to notice.

She asked me how I'd been, what I'd done, and shared with me about her trip as we sipped eggnog. The whole time she told me about Wisconsin, my thoughts were on Chad.

---

"Well, these are nice presents. I should probably get started on thank-you cards."

"Wait, Hon, there's more," my mom said, getting lower on her knees and pointing towards the back of the tree.

Sitting all the way in the corner was a small box wrapped in red-and-white striped paper, with a metallic crimson bow placed on a corner. I reached back beneath the tree for it, and once I had it in the light I could see that Chad had given it to me.

I looked at it a moment before opening it, my eyes stinging with tears. So, was I really the reason Chad had broken his not-so-generous stride?

I sat agape in wonder of the beautiful necklace in my hand. On a simple silver chain hung a circular stone, orange in one concentrated area and fading to yellow at the edges. My mom's eyes were perfect circles.

"Who gave you _that_?" she asked, mostly rhetorically as we both admired the way the stone glistened in the light.

"Chad."


	20. Oops

**Considering how short this chapter is, you would not know how AGONIZINGLY long it took for me to write it. There's not even any Channy in this chapter...but one step at a time, right?**

**50+ reviews...I love you guys!  
Oh by the way...happy 2010. :)**

WARNING: the following section of this author's note contains nothing pertaining to SwaC  
Joker236 - Yay, l ve Raxtus. LOL Gavin was my LEAST favorite character, I don't even know why! I wanted him to just DIE. I mean, no offense; if you wanna get mixed up with an ancient evil demon prince, be my guest.

I've watched Lord of the Rings for the first time ever. Who's shocked?

* * *

Sonny

"Hey, Grady!"

"Hey, Sonny! Merry Christmas!"

I shifted the cell phone to my other ear so I could stir the noodles with my dominant hand. "Merry Christmas, Grady. Did you have a good one?"

"Yeah! Well, it's still going on, but I had a moment so I figured I'd thank you for the awesome slinky! And you even threw in a can of spray paint! But…my mom wasn't too happy with that…she said I might get too carried away and paint my room. Of course, the thought didn't come to me until after she said that."

I shook my head, though he couldn't see it. "Just like you, Grady. Oh, well, I have another call! Merry Christmas."

"Bye, Sonny."

"Who was that?" my mom called from the living room, trying to get _It's a Wonderful Life_ to play on the DVD player. She's hopeless with technology.

"Grady. Nico's calling now," I told her as I eyed my caller ID. "Hello?"

"Hey, Sonny! Merry Christmas! Hey, I can't talk long but I just want to say thanks for the comic books! It's really the best gift I've gotten this year," he gushed.

"Aw, Nico, really, it was no trouble at all," I replied, my smile widening as I remembered who had actually bought them. "I hope you get all the enjoyment you can from them."

"I will. I'm just sorry I didn't get you anything!"

"No biggie! Really. I'm here to give," I insisted, absently fingering the cold stone at my chest.

"Really, though. Thank you so much. Bye, Sonny!"

"Bye!"

I received a text from Zora wishing me good tidings as well, and evidently she had received her gift the night previous, which she thanked me for. Now, I was sitting down at the coffee table before the TV, pouring Parmesan over a mound of red noodles in preparation for a Christmas dinner with my mother, when who should burst through the door but,

"Tawni?"

"Sonny Munroe!" she shrieked, bejeweled phone in manicured hand, face contorted with rage. "Am I so unimportant to you that you didn't even so much as send me a Christmas card?"

Uh-oh.

"Tawni…I am _so_ sorry! Really I am. I'll make it up to you!"

"You had better hope so, Sonny! Otherwise, your life in Hollywood will be _miserable_!"

Before I could fit another word in, the door slammed behind her and I could hear her stomp down the hall.

My mom glared at me, and I winced. "Mom, it's Christmas…can we just…enjoy the movie and deal with this tomorrow?"

I could see her hesitate. She knew it wasn't like a good parent for her to just let something slide, but it was Christmas after all, her favorite holiday. "Okay, I suppose I could let this one go. But tomorrow, I want to hear why you didn't get your best friend a present. Could it be that your fame has made you forget the important things?"

"Mom…please don't lecture me right now."

Well, it wasn't as if I could enjoy myself now. Though I must say my spaghetti was delicious.


	21. Tawni Town

Bet you didn't notice there were two chapters in a row from Sonny's POV. ;)

Here's chapter 21, sorry it's been taking me so long lately!

* * *

Chad

The day after Christmas…well, technically…I had set out to meet Sonny. I'd texted her when I was going to pick her up, and in her usual Sonny way she asked if I was crazy, before agreeing.

"Do you realize how much trouble I'll be in if my mom wakes up and I'm not there? I mean, two in the morning, Chad?" she scolded in a hushed tone as I held her hand and ducked through the bushes.

"Sonny, please." I rolled my eyes. Looking around at the lighted city, I realized how few people were actually out here, aside from the occasional car passing on the street. But I wasn't about to let Sonny know that right at this moment. "Okay, we're going to need to stay low a bit longer. You know…Paparazzi and all. Don't take off your blindfold just yet…" I whispered, stopping her hand before it reached the red bandana.

"Are you sure? I don't hear much."

I smirked. Too smart…she wasn't like the blondes I had usually dated. "Just trust me. And while we're here…kiss me."

Had her eyes been visible, she would have rolled them. "I can't even see you. How can I kiss you?"

I chuckled, triggering blush to rise in her cheeks. "Well, I guess I'll have to pick up your slack, Munroe."

---

As she had suspected, her mom noticed her absence. I ended up having to drive her back home before I was able to take her where I had planned. But, time with her alone seemed to be enough.

I saw her later that day; she had told her mom she was running an errand.

"Chad, I have a problem," were her first words coming through the door.

"Nice to see you, too," I replied sarcastically, shutting the door behind her and catching her in a one-arm hug before she cast herself to the couch.

"Right…sorry," she apologized, pecking me on the lips before we both sat down. "But this is serious…Tawni came over yesterday while I was trying to have a nice Christmas dinner with my mom and she just totally…blew up at me!"

I rolled my eyes, truly not having the ability to care any less.

"Come on, Chad! This is serious! I never got her a gift and now she's really mad and possibly really damaged."

"Possibly? Sonny…you work with her," I chuckled darkly. "She already _was_ damaged."

"Knock it off! I need to find a way to make this up to her!"

"And how do you plan on doing that, huh? You worked on getting something for her all month, how do you expect you'll just suddenly find her the perfect gift?"

"Well, I could have gotten her just any gift and avoided this! But since I didn't I have to make it up to her…she won't accept anything less than amazing."

She really looked stressed. "Okay…I know you're really freaking out about this, but it can't be _that_ bad. Just…" The worry in her eyes made my heart hurt. I sighed. "Alright, what are you gonna do about it, then?"

A weak smile crossed her face. "Thanks for trying to care. I appreciate the effort." Trying? That's as caring as I can possibly manage! "Well, I had an idea…but it requires a lot of work…and pink tinsel."

My eyes widened in horror. "Tawni Town."

Her smile changed to an apologetic one. "I hear it's a heck of a town."

---

The entire prop house, to which Sonny had a key, was almost entirely pink and silver. I leaned against the one wall not holding a poster of Jackson Tyler, glaring at the room in disgust.

"Come on, Chad. The least you can do is help out a little," Sonny suggested. I burst out laughing. "No, I'm serious!" she whined.

"No, it's not that…you have some tinsel on your head," I said, still laughing hysterically.

She patted her head in search of the nonexistent tinsel, and just as she opened her mouth to say something sarcastic, I flung some silver tinsel into it from a bucket by my feet. Sonny closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Really, Chad? Really? We're doing this again?" She picked up the bucket and tried to dump its contents onto my head, but I was too agile and she nearly fell over as I danced out of the way.

"Don't embarrass yourself, Babe." She grinned shyly for a moment, but then picked up a wad of the silvery fluff and chucked it at me. Some of it stuck in my golden hair. "Aw, come on…"

It was too late. Tinsel was flying around the room, carelessly draping itself over the edges of things. Once the silver was gone, even more pink was seen everywhere. I dashed up the stairs to try to get out of range, sliding down the slide under the assumption she was following me. Instead, she had decided to head me off at the slide and I nearly collided with her, bracing myself by grasping the edges of the slide. She smiled slyly, backing up to the bottom of the slide.

I slowly slid forward towards Sonny, seeing only her eyes and coy smile. We were now face to face and she giggled, and I could feel her breath on my neck as her lips came closer to mine…

"Ha!" she about shouted as she flung tinsel into my face.

"That was," I shouted, getting up after her and throwing the tinsel indignantly to the ground, "really uncalled for!"

Her eyes widened as I came even closer along the wall with the intention of pinning her to the wall. Out of nowhere a door, which incidentally hit me right in my beautiful face, rudely interrupted me.

"Okay, I'm here," a prissy voice said as I clutched my nose, checking for blood. "What's the emergency?"

"The emergency is, you hit me right in the face," I sneered. She turned around to me in surprise, hand on one hip.

"Chad?"

From behind Tawni, Sonny gave me a warning glare and turned her friend around with some difficulty, forcing cheeriness into her voice. "Welcome to Tawni Town!" she shouted. Tawni was obviously less than impressed.


	22. Trouble in Tawni Town

**Whoa, the author's note is longer than the story...**

**Thanks again for all your freakin' awesome reviews! Chad even scared ME in the chapter below...my story is taking on a mind of its own, if you'll forgive that little cliche moment.  
SonnyChadFan - glad you liked the tinsel fight; I feared I was repeating the decoration fight back at Sonny's appartment and I was like, "Shoot I'm gonna get beat up for this". But evidently not! :D  
^^ read _Channy Ways of Life by SonnyChadFan_ if you haven't...first Fanfiction I read on this site and I'm still following it faithfully. It really is great.**

**WARNING: the following par of this author's note...you know what? If you've read the past three, I don't really need to be redundant.  
Joker236 - I'll find ways! I mean, I'll need Seth and Kendra and some milk, but...I'LL GET INTO WYRMROOST! Oh, there's also the issue of getting the horn back from the centaurs...maybe they'll lend it to us because of how the Sorensons "recovered it from the Society." As far as dragons go...darn...I might not get past Nafia...and then there's those creepy astrids...*shudder* but love will find a way!**

* * *

Sonny

I looked around nervously. Was something wrong? "Uh…don't…don't you like it, Tawni?"

I took her hand and pulled her to the sofa, the cushions of which had been replaced with pink fuzzy ones, strewn with white and pink rose petals. "Look, Tawni! Isn't it pretty? And look over here!"

I yanked her over to the far wall, gesturing towards the pictures on it. "Jackson Tyler! Only the best pictures for my _best_ friend!" I sighed, dropping my cheeriness. "Come on, Tawni! I spent all day working on this. What's the matter? I even put a mirror in place of the TV! And there's a whole bunch of Coco Moco Coco lipstick all over that table over there…"

"But…it's…silver."

I stopped. "What?"

"Sonny, I have said _specifically_ I do not do silver! It's everywhere!" She crossed over to the stair case and held up a tuft of it for emphasis. "And you call this Tawni Town? It's not even big enough to be 'Tawni Room'! My _bathroom_ is bigger than this place."

"But, Tawni…I wasn't exactly working with unlimited resources…" I felt a hand on my shoulder and became more confident. "Chad and I have been trying to make this place Tawni-tastic and…"

"That's another thing! If this were Tawni Town, Chad wouldn't be here! _Tawni Town!_ And this place wouldn't be full of _posters_ of hot guys; there would be _real_ Jackson Tylers all over the place!" She huffed and sat down on the couch, getting up abruptly and flinging the cushions across the room.

"Tawni!" I shouted. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nobody ever cares what I need!" she screamed, charging for the door. I watched in shock and saw Chad block her off, dragging her back over to me with one arm.

"Chad!"

"Calm down, Sonny, I'm doing you a favor." He forced Tawni down onto the cushion-less sofa and she crossed her arms defiantly, glaring at him with daggers. He countered with a dominant tone. "Quit complaining and listen, alright? Since the beginning of December I've had to put up with Sonny worrying every other minute about what she was going to get you for Christmas, and she never found anything perfect enough! Now, _you_ bust through her door on the night of Christmas while she was spending some much-needed time with her mom who she had not seen in weeks and complain about yourself. Sonny almost couldn't get any sleep last night, and the first thing she said to me were—AND I QUOTE—'Chad, I have a problem,' followed by a detailed description of how miserable she felt for not getting you anything. We've been—um, well, she's been slaving away in here since pretty early this morning trying to make it up to you with something she thought you'd love, and you just nitpick! Not to mention, you whacked me in my priceless face with a door! How…self-centered can you be not to show even an ounce of gratitude for effort here? Or at least an apology for my angelic nose?"

Tawni opened her mouth a couple of times. I gaped at Chad in disbelief. He looked pretty scary right now.

Then, something really unexpected happened: she broke down crying. Chad softened instantly, regretfully. But he didn't speak. "I'm sorry, Sonny! I'm sorry, Chad…it's just, I just went through a brutal break-up with my boyfriend and…I'm…I'm sorry! It's really great, it is, and aside from the silver you outdid yourselves."

My heart broke and I walked over to comfort my friend, ushering Chad into the hug awkwardly. "It's alright, Tawni. I get it. I—I know how it feels. I'm so sorry."

She sniffed and sobbed some more. "How could you be so _nice_ to me after I totally spazzed out like that?"

Chad and I chuckled lightly. Poor Tawni, just a victim of a bad break-up.

---

"You are," Chad stopped walking and paused for emphasis on our way to my car, "_un_believably forgiving."

"Well, you're the one who snapped her out of it."

"Yeah, by yelling and getting physical! I wanted to slap her for being so rude!"

I laughed out loud. "Believe me, I wanted to."

"But you're a girl, you could have. Yet," he explained as he opened the driver's side for me and leaning his forehead against the door's frame, "you _hugged_ her. And told her _you_ were sorry."

I blushed as he slid into the driver's side. "Sonny, your niceness never ceases to amaze me."


	23. Sonderella

**Forgive me? School, church, writer's block...life happens...plus I read three chapters of 1 Chronicles (WHOLE LOT OF NAMES)! SOO sorry I didn't post anything until just now!  
This is not the end, by the way...just so you know.**

PB&JLover - Thank you so much for your uplifting review. I do work hard on making it seem realistic as well as enjoyable...and I can't stand gramatical errors, so you never have to worry about ThIs. ;)

WARNING: the following [...] not contain [...] pertaining to SwaC  
If anyone reading my story is a Fablehaven fan, I've two oneshots that I'd like some more opinion on. Just sayin'...

* * *

Chad

It was happy ending time. Sonny deserved it. I mean, come on…she's just perfect, is she not?

So, before _Mackenzie Falls_ started back up, I had no choice but to take a little Disney-princess style vacation.

I love blindfolds.

---

"Chad, again? Really?"

I waved my hand before her face to make sure she wasn't peeking. "Stand right there, right where you are."

"Like this?"

"Yeah, perfect." I pecked her on the lips and she smiled and blushed, and I took her hand again. "Alright, keep walking. Go straight…straight…to your left…" It's a shame she couldn't see the vast labyrinth; it would have made it a lot easier to get where we were going. And she would just love the towering sunflowers.

The steps were the worst part, but once it was over and I removed the blindfold to reveal a fantasy-book-status view, her reaction was worth it. "Oh my gosh, Chad! This is beautiful! Oh my gosh!" She hugged me with all her might, then let her gaze wander around the tower of the "castle" and peeking out the window at the maze of hedges. "But where are we?"

"Oh, you see, that's secret," I told her, disappearing behind a door and returning with a silver tiara, placing it on her head. "And now it's perfect. I see you're wearing the fire opal I gave you."

She looked down and fingered her necklace, looking back up at me. "Is that what it's called? It's really gorgeous. Did I ever thank you for it?"

"Naw, but…you were busy making everyone else happy." Her smile warmed me from the inside out and she came up to me, hands and head resting against my chest. The tiara poked me but I decided not to mind. "You know why I chose that one?"

"Hmm?" I felt more than heard.

"'Cause it reminded me of the sun…which always reminds me of you."

"Chad," she muttered, pushing away from me. "That's so cheesy."

"But it's true! And not just because it's your name. Your overall personality…though occasionally annoying…warms me up inside. You've really made an impact on my life, Sonny."

She cuddled back up to me. "Oh, Chad…" she moaned. "I never thought you could be this sweet! There's no way it could just be me…this was always you. But why have you been hiding it?"

"Well…" I ran my fingers through my hair, twirling a lock before placing my arm back around her. "I've been hurt to many times before…and I thought, if I don't put my heart out there, it won't get crushed as easily."

I felt something wet on my chest and looked down. "Sorry, Chad," Sonny apologized, wiping a tear from her face. "Listen, I never want to hurt you. Okay?"

I chuckled. "I know you don't, Sonny." However, it didn't mean her mind would never change.

As soon as we'd had our fill of the tower, I took her hand and walked with her into the miniature flower garden, where we kissed and shared sweet words, and I picked the most beautiful sunflower and tucked it behind her ear.

"You make that sunflower look _so_ good."

---

"Thanks for an amazing time, Chad," she gushed as I lead her to her door. "But next time, can we do something that _doesn't_ involve blindfolds?"

"Haha…I make no promises," I replied, shoving my hands in my pockets. "G'night, baby."

Her cheeks turned pink. Did she always use to blush this often?

I was now advancing for a kiss…but then the door behind her opened and she stumbled backwards into her mom, who was taken by surprise, allowing me to make myself scarce.

I pressed my back against the wall beside her door and overheard Sonny apologizing and her mom complaining about being so late to arrive home. Sonny stumbled over lies so stupid I was surprised her mom bought them.

"Okay, then. Well, come inside. Dinner's getting cold."

"Wait, at least let me get my phone. I uh…dropped it in the hall."

I heard the door shut and before I knew it Sonny's lips were pressed to mine, in a quick yet passionate kiss. "Bye, Chad," she whispered, warm breath tickling my ear. And then she was gone.

---

Well, Sonny's mom was certainly an issue. I mulled over how to get around it as I was driving back to my apartment. If Sonny fessed up, well, let's face it…Ms. Munroe isn't an idiot. She'd soon figure that all her daughter's little slip-ups had in some way involved me.

Was that such a bad thing? Well, I suppose it could be, if you take into consideration most parents aren't too thrilled about their teenage daughters spending the night alone with a boy.

Of course it's not like we ever did anything. Not that I didn't think about it but come on, I'm human and Sonny was my girlfriend. I smiled. _Girlfriend_. That was so weird to think about Sonny. I mean, just three days ago I was trying to convince myself I didn't like her.

Well, as long as she was mine, one thing was for sure: I was going to take every chance to be with her.

Then Vivi called.


	24. Erstwhile Secret

**WHEW! So glad you guys leave reviews. I was beginning to worry the whole castle angle was verging on cheesey...**

**I know you say you don't like Vivi, but she's kind of there to keep the story moving...and admit it, you love obstacles. How boring would the world be if not for them? However, reassessing my decision and my lack of time due to nearing finals, I would have been far better off trying to end the story...**

**W: tfpotandncaptswac (ACRONYM!)  
I hope I'm not boring or annoying anyone with the Fablehaven talk...if so please bring it up and I'll try to lighten up on it.**

**Joker236 - As to your suggestion, I have not entirely ruled out Warren...Seth's a bit young but I admire his character...however I am NOT giving up on Raxtus! I will get to Wyrmroost or die trying. And 1 Chronicles is a book in the Bible...I'm following a plan of how to finish it in a year. Of course, reading the whole bible includes Leviticus and the Chronicles. Hah...  
Thanks for reading my Fablehaven oneshot, by the way! Yeah, I kind of wondered about his whole liking her thing too, and I thought, maybe Mull just thought up the plot twist on the spot. Sometimes authors will do that...no surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.**

**

* * *

  
**

Sonny

"Like, check it out, my boyfriend hasn't called in like, for_ev_er!" I said exaggeratedly. How true it was…

"Check it out, I can't believe you didn't tell me you even _had_ a boyfriend." Tawni glared at me. What? That wasn't in the script! And it was completely out of character.

"Check it out…I have like _noooo_ idea what you're talking about!" I improvised, making a ridiculous face and receiving an appropriate laugh from the audience.

"Check it out, I think you do." She advanced toward me and Zora half-entered uncertainly.

"Um…I'm trying to check out items here. Can you check me out?"

"Check it out, shut up. I'm having an important conversation!" Tawni snapped, holding up a finger to Zora and completely turning her back on the audience. "And I think his name is Brad Kylan Shooper."

I stared at her in disbelief and my eyes flickered to the confused audience behind her. One person left and another coughed. "Like, check it out, that is the most ridiculous name I have ever heard."

"Check it out, stop trying to cover it up!"

"Check it out…I'm not hiding anything."

"Hah! I never said you were! Uh…check…it out!" Tawni stumbled.

The audience felt awkward, as did I, and of course Zora. It stayed that way for a while, with Marshall whispering Tawni's first line loudly and desperately. But no one else did anything…until Grady tripped out onto the stage in a "Check-It-Out" costume, and Nico tossed him a gold slinky.

"Like, check it out," Grady shouted, stretching the slinky out and pretending to be fascinated with it. "This _slinky_ is more interesting than them!"

The audience chuckled awkwardly, apparently full of people not buying it. The theme came on and Tawni and I danced it, her throwing me hard looks the whole time until the curtain fell. All eyes were on the blonde.

"What was _that_ about? Our first show in forever and you blow it completely!" Zora shouted, throwing her whole body into her rage. Then she turned to me. "Wait, are you dating Chad?"

"No," Grady cut in. "I'm pretty sure it's some guy with a suspiciously similar name…"

"Yeah, Brad, right?"

Tawni gave Nico and Grady "are you serious" glares. "You two are unbelievably stupid."

I pushed Tawni by the shoulder, forcing her to look at me. "That's the pot calling the kettle black! You only made _yourself_ look like an idiot out there?"

She gave me a sly smile, like she knew something I didn't. "Did I, Sonny? Did I really?" she taunted. How much did she know? "I know a select few people who watch this show, people I definitely don't think would be okay with you and Chad."

My jaw dropped in horror and I mouthed the word "Mom".

She just smirked and placed a hand on a protruding hip. "That'll teach you to keep secrets from me," she said casually as she strutted off the set.

---

When I got home, I wasn't lectured. I wasn't yelled at, I wasn't grounded, I wasn't sent back to Wisconsin, and I didn't get my car taken away. I got something much worse: a mother's distrust.

Trust takes a long time to build up. My mom always told me I was the most trustworthy, down-to-earth teenager she'd ever heard about. It was a trust I had built up from the moment I knew right from wrong.

Would it take that long to get it back?

"Mom, I'm so sorry…"

"Leave me alone." She got up from the couch the instant I sat down and I followed her into the kitchen.

"I didn't mean to keep it from you! It seriously just like…happened!"

"How can I believe you?" she asked for the millionth time. "You could be lying right now. How do I know you were telling the truth before?"

"Test me!" I finally shouted as she walked back into the main room. She paused and turned around.

"Alright." Mom crossed her arms and I was instantly aware that my words might not have been the best to use. "Were you _really_ at Tawni's on Christmas Eve?"

I winced and looked anywhere but at her. "Well technically I said a friend. And it wasn't a lie! Chad and I were still just friends at that point."

She shook her head in disappointment and looked at the wall she was leaning against. "And here I thought I had a teenage daughter I could be proud of. One that I could leave alone without worrying if I would come back and find her pregnant!"

"Mom!" I shouted resentfully. "I may have taken a risk by sleeping over at a guy's house but I'm not an idiot! Chad is perfectly honorable…"

"How could you know that, Alison? You hardly know him! You've been together four days? I was with my first boyfriend for four months before I found out he'd been cheating on me!"

"Well I guess that means you're just an IDIOT!" I screamed, storming over to the door of the apartment without a key and slamming the door behind me. I tried to open it back up but the automatic lock had engaged.

I spent an hour that night on the floor with my back to the door, face in my hands, crying, until she finally opened up for me.


	25. Little Surprise

**This one's short but due to the content I think it seems fitting.**

Zoezora - Well, I suppose that's why Tawni did that, I mean, that's the reason she told me, so...and as to the reviews, don't worry about it...though it makes me smile every time I see a review email ;)

One thing to say about this chapter: ;-) *whistles WoWP theme*

So, uh...a lot of people put disclaimers in their stories...while I feel it's been quite apparent I don't own SwaC or any of its characters, I'm just gonna state it right here so...yeah...no one sue me...  
However Vivi, Bonnie, Bonnie, Crystal, Sally, Jack, Pete, Gabe and Janna belong to me :)

* * *

Chad

Three days left of December. Maybe I would plan a special date for Sonny and myself to ring in the New Year?

"…and Mackenzie, if it means I have to spend the rest of my life without you, I don't think I could do it."

I gazed longingly at the blue sofa we had recently moved into the room. Could we not just wrap this up? I needed some Chad time!

I looked deep into my costar's eyes, imagining they belonged to Sonny. "Penelope, take this chance," I said, taking her hands in my own. "I'll be waiting. Right here. When you get back…to the Falls. Alright, let's break…we've been at this for_ev_er."

All the actors slouched into their casual positions, some (cough, cough…Chastity…cough, cough) texting before anyone had seen them take out their phones. I walked off the set and tried to be casual in looking about the room, as if I expected Sonny to be there.

I felt so naked without my phone. After Vivi called me it had died, and now it was spazzing out and I couldn't get a new one until February. So now I suppose we'd have to do our conversing face-to-face, which was perfectly fine with me, except for the fact that being with Sonny drastically decreases the percentage of vocabulary in my mental word bank.

I decided to sit and rest my important legs, which had been supporting me all rehearsal and would need to continue to be functional when we were going to shoot this. Before I could entirely zone out, I felt a piece of stiff fabric cover my eyes and constrict, loosening slightly as the culprit finished tying the bandana around my head. I heard a giggle.

"You little imp," I said mischievously, grabbing back for her hands to no avail. "And here I thought you'd be mad when I didn't call you. Which I have a perfect explanation for—"

Obviously she needed no apology, because a pair of soft lips cut me off. Wow, she was in a cheery mood today! She giggled shortly as I kissed her back, my hands wrapping themselves tightly around her.

Every emotion she had ever had seemed to pour right into me, making me grip her tighter. She wriggled a moment and was on my lap, legs straddling me. She placed her hands on my chest and pushed me backwards. Why didn't we kiss like this more often?

Then something just below her lips touched mine. Round, small, cold and smooth—I ceased immediately. "Sonny, please tell me you decided to get your lip pierced…" I said, her lips still close enough to mine to feel her breath. I got a facefull of damaged hair as she evidently turned her head and sighed. I took of my blindfold, desperately hoping I had not kissing the very girl who was standing right in front of me.

Vivi's eyes locked with mine. "I knew it. I knew she was the reason you didn't want to come with us."

"No, Vivi, that's not the reason," I insisted, adjusting myself so that I was now supported by my elbows. "Sonny and I weren't even dating. Look…not that you're not a fabulous kisser, but I wish we hadn't."

Her eyes flickered briefly over my head and then focused back on me. "Come on, just admit you like it."

I hesitated, but nodded. "Well, yeah…"

"Kiss me again, just one more time. We don't have to tell _anyone_." She came closer to my face again, slowly moving her hands down my chest and at my sides. "Please, Chain…you want to. I can see it."

I sighed. "Alright. But you have to swear not to tell Sonny or anyone she hangs out with."

Please, I am only a man.


	26. Question:

**Hey, don't hate Chad now, come on. Bear with me.**

**Yikes...I guess it's true, I can't have a good story without making it tragic at some point...at least I approached it differently this time!**

**MakeMeCrazier - your review made me "LOL".**

**Zoezora - Yeah, the whole double alert thing...I had accidentally posted the chapter without taking all the previous ones out of the document. Don't worry, the site's not spazzing and you aren't either :)**

**WARNING: the following part of this authors note contains nothing pertaining to SwaC  
Joker236 - Alright, I definitely wouldn't go THAT far. Ephira? That's pretty bad. And hah...the Sphinx is such a joke. I have no respect or fear for him. We all know he's going down. Oh, and don't worry; I'll finish this story before I try to go see Raxtus. And I found an easy way in: first I have to get into the Inkworld and once I get my hands on Meggie, it's Fablehaven time! And if she decides not to help me out, I'll settle for the firedancer.  
**

* * *

Sonny

My mom had still not been over the whole Chad and me thing when I set off that morning. I assumed that was quite normal maternal behavior in the situation I had recently fallen into. To be honest, I don't think I could ever trust my daughter again if she neglected to tell me about a sleepover at a guy's house…speaking hypothetically, of course. Like I told my mom: nothing happened. No daughter in this picture.

Tawni and I had just had another fight, to make things worse. How come Chad was the core of all this? Poor guy…he was probably getting an earful from her right now. I'd told her there was nothing she could say to him to break us up and she had gone out to try to prove me wrong.

I sat awkwardly in the dressing room. It was too quiet without Tawni constantly complimenting herself.

My eyes flickered to the vanity. The lights were on and various brushes were laid neatly beside each other from smallest to biggest. Tubes of lipstick were expertly arranged by shade. Cases of eye shadow were stacked beside blush. Beside this were a few containers each of concealer and mineral powder, and on the side of the table closest to the door was a plastic drawer filled with eyeliner in different shades of blacks, grays, and browns, along with multiple colors of mascara.

I got up and peeked around the door, shutting it quietly and slipping into the inviting chair by Tawni's cosmetics.

I put on every color, just for fun, laughing at how ridiculous I looked with orange and metallic blue mascara. I tugged down the scarves and headbands dangling from the corners of the mirror and wrapped each one around my neck, waist, or head.

The door burst open so suddenly I went numb for a second, then fumbled with Tawni's scarves and shoved them in the sofa cushions. By the look on her face, however, she wouldn't have noticed.

"You look perplexed," I stated casually, my arm still between the cushions.

"Sonny, I need to tell…are you wearing my Aquamarine Mermaid Princess #30 mascara?" she asked.

"Uh…maybe?" I said, shifting awkwardly and taking my hand from between the cushions. "But…what did you need to tell me?"

"Chad's cheating on you!"

I stared at her a minute. "You really think that's gonna work on me, Tawni? Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about me and Chad. Really I am…"

"I'm not making this up! Sonny, I _saw_ him! This blonde chick was like, on top of him and they were making out!"

I crossed my arms. This was going to far. "Tawni, please, I said I was sorry. Feel free to look the other way because you are not scaring me away from Chad. I'm pretty sure I…love him."

Tawni gave a desperate sigh and dug her fingers into her hair. "Don't say that because he doesn't love you! He said 'don't tell Sonny' and then he kissed her! When I _left _three seconds later they were still sucking face!"

"Okay, who exactly was this?"

"It was some girl with bleached hair with purple streaks and she had…" Tawni shuddered as she said, "snakebites."

What the heck! How far was she willing to go? "Who told you about Vivi Violence? And now I know you're lying! Vivi went with her friends to follow some band on tour! She's not supposed to be back for months!"

"Who told you that? Chad? Because he obviously lied!"

"Shut up, Tawni! He did not! Look, I know you recently broke up with your boyfriend, but I'd appreciate if you stopped trying to ruin romance for me!"

"Fine! Don't believe me! I am perfectly okay with that. But I know what I saw. If you want to keep pretending and get your heart broken, that's fine. Let's just go along with rehearsal and pretend you're not as stupid as you really are!"

---

What if he _was_ cheating on me? Was I prepared for this? Oh, come on, I didn't really believe Tawni.

Before my knuckles touched the door, it opened and before I knew what was going on I was being held in a crushing embrace with my feet not even touching the floor. "Sonny, it's been so long! Well, like, a day, but still it feels like it's been forever!" He set me down and held my arms at my sides, looking deep in my eyes. Cheated, huh? "I'm so sorry I didn't call! My phone is being a spaz and I can't really get a new one…"

"Oh! Right, I completely forgot about that." I stood beside him and slid my hand into his. "No worries. I know you love me."

The whole time I was with him, my cuddling and giggling and talking was all half-hearted. I second-guessed the depth in Chad's blue eyes.

"How do you feel about Disneyland?" he was asking now.

"Oh my gosh, I love it there! But I've only been once."

His eyes widened mirthfully and he smiled. "_One_ time? So you didn't even go when you first moved here?"

"I haven't had the time!"

"Well, make some and come with me this weekend!" he cheered, squeezing my hand and nuzzling my cheek.

"Just us? The two of us?"

He sat up straight and looked at me puzzledly. "Well, yeah. Of course! Why not? I mean, you're my girlfriend and I love you!"

"Chad," I said shakily, not positive I was so sure of myself anymore. "I think I love you, too. But honestly, how long have we known each other? Like really known each other?"

His expression was hard to figure out.

"Chad…are you cheating on me?"

His eyes grew wide now with shock, his jaw dropping in disbelief. Then his expression changed to guilt, and he closed his eyes and exhaled hugely, pinching the bridge of his nose.

My eyes brimmed with tears. "I knew it! I didn't want Tawni to be right…"

"Sonny, I'm not cheating on you!"

"Then what was with that? That, just now! Tell me the truth, Chad! Are you cheating or aren't you?"

"Look! Vivi came back because she still likes me. I tried to convince her not to but I couldn't keep with my argument because our phone died. She took me by surprise and started kissing me and I thought it was you!"

"Last time I checked, my hair wasn't sickly white—"

"Sonny, just—let me finish! She blindfolded me from behind. I didn't know it was her until I felt the uh…lip piercings. I felt so bad, Sonny. I didn't want it to be happening."

I tried to smile, but then something worse occurred to me. "Chad, you're lying!"

"I don't know what you want me to say, Sonny! I told you the straight truth!"

"Tawni said you said 'don't tell Sonny'."

Chad's eyes stared at me for a minute and then dropped. "That's…that's true, too. After I found out it was her she tried to persuade me to kiss her again."

I reached out to slap him but he caught my hand.

"You didn't see her face, Sonny! She looked so…sad, so desperate! And her boyfriend had just recently slept with her best friend, for crying out loud. She needed something!"

"But where is she now? I mean, she can't've driven all the way here by herself and all the way back to wherever the tour is, right?" I bet he was hiding her in his room.

He shrugged, looking annoyed. "I dunno, I don't like her back!"

"Then why did you _kiss_ her back?!"

He opened his mouth a couple of times but shut it right back up.

I left.

In tears.


	27. Plan

**QUICK THING: If you want to read stories in which the characters' underhanded plans to get someone back are foiled by something stupid and completely unrealistic, you won't find it in my writing. I try to avoid cliches, something Disney needs to work harder at.**

So sorry I didn't update yesterday! I had youth group and homework and stuff...but I posted 2 chapters on Tuesday so DON'T complain.

* * *

Chad

"Sonny, please just open the door." I leaned with my back against it now, like I had the day before, knocking weakly with the back of my fist. "You have to come out some time to get to your show."

"You'll be at the _Falls_ by then! I know you start rehearsal an hour earlier!" a muffled voice called.

I sighed in frustration and stamped a foot. I also stopped an hour later, which would give her enough time to lock herself back in. And her mom would be back, too. "Come on, Sonny! You can't stay mad at me forever!"

"Exactly! Just until you die!" she screamed up against the door, right where my head was. I winced at the volume, equivalent to her shouting in my ear, but muffled.

"Sonny _please _open the door!"

I heard stomping feet fade, and decided she had gone clear across the apartment room. "You are _unbelievably_ stubborn, you know that?" I shouted as loud as I could, pretty sure she could hear me though she refused to acknowledge it. "WELL I CAN BE JUST AS STUBBORN AS YOU!"

"GO AHEAD AND TRY! You need to LEAVE in five minutes _anyway_!" she called, voice lively with a mixture of anger and conquest in knowing I couldn't stay there all day.

"I'll stay every minute I can, Munroe, until you open that door and let me back in your life." And I stayed there every second for that last five minutes to no avail, before heading off to rehears the show I was beginning to enjoy less and less.

---

"…_and Mackenzie, if it means I have to spend the rest of my life without you, I don't think I could do it_!"

"Oh…" I said as I realized that was my cue. "uh…oh, Penelope! That's great! It's always been your dream! I hope you have the time of your life."

Marta scowled at me and crossed her arms over her chest. "Chad, that's the wrong line."

"Oh, sorry…Penelope, take this chance. I'll be waiting. Right here. When you get back—"

"No, Chad. You're missing the point. I said my line _ten_ times before you even started paying attention! I can't work like this, you're being completely improfessional!"

"_Un_professional," I corrected her absently. Her face went scarlet and her fists flew to her sides.

"As if it matters! You're being an idiot! I'm not going to risk my career on working with _you_." I didn't even notice she had slapped me until I felt a stinging pain. Fast girl… "Pull it together and start taking this thing seriously!"

The sentence "get some more guy friends" flashed into my head.

"Alright! Stop nagging. You sound like we're married." My eyes dropped from her face and something glinted in the spotlight. "Marta?"

"Yeah?" she asked, annoyed.

"Where'd you get that necklace?"

She shrugged. "I found it somewhere. I don't remember where. But it looked pretty and really expensive so I picked it up."

I would have to be subtle about this. "Really, Marta? Really? Orange is a horrifying color for you. That necklace does nothing for your eyes. And I bet it's even fake," I lied. That fire opal was a hundred percent real and I have the hole in my wallet to prove so.

She rolled her eyes and unclasped the necklace, letting it drop to the floor. I winced, picking it up quickly as she turned around and flipped her hair. I smiled at it. Had I bate now?

---

"Tawni! Open up!" I shouted, about out of breath. I had run all the way from my set to her dressing room, after stopping by the prop house to be sure Sonny was there and not here.

The door swung open and Tawni glared at me darkly. Did all girls hate me? "Don't bother. I _saw_ what you did with that girl. And Sonny told me you've been pestering her all morning. So whatever you want to say better be pretty darn important or you're walking."

I tried my best to smile pleasantly and she replied with a sneer. Untying the bracelet around my wrist, I handed it to her and she held as if it was a rat she had found in her closet.

"What do you want me to do with _this_?" Tawni asked.

"I need you to put it somewhere Sonny will find it. Like, a really obvious place. And tell her I texted you and said she left something at my place and needs to come get it."

She gave me a "you're an idiot" look. "What makes you think I'll help you with whatever stupid plan you're cooking up? I bet Sonny'll shred this."

I hoped she was wrong. "You'll help me because I helped Sonny make 'Tawni Town' for you. And because I know Jackson Tyler's number."

"That last one's a lie," she said knowingly, not missing a beat.

"Okay, so maybe it is. _Please_ help me out here?"

She thought a moment, finger on lip. Then she pointed at the ground. "Grovel."

"You can't be serious."

"Then you're not getting any help from Tawni Hart."

I tensed my fingers in frustration, wanting so much to strangle her. After a moment of hesitation, with her staring at me cunningly the whole time, I took a deep breath, rolled my eyes and kneeled. "Oh, Tawni. You are the prettiest girl in the whole studio…"

She shook her head. "Not good enough."

"Whole world?"

"That and I need more feeling."

There was a reason I hated this girl. "Oh, Tawni!" I emphasized, so glad no one was here to see this. "You're the prettiest girl in the whole world. Nay; the whole cosmos. Aphrodite herself is jealous of your splendor…" I paused at her bewilderment. "The Grecian goddess of beauty herself cannot compare to your loveliness. I am not worthy to look into your eyes, which sparkle like gems. I am a lowly worm and do not deserve your assistance, though I would greatly appreciate it."

She stepped out of the dressing room and paced around me slowly, while I was still in my humble position. Her hand was on her lip in fake consideration, which pissed me off. After making a full circle around me she smiled and clapped her hands together. "Well done! Chad Dylan Cooper groveling at my feet…the internet will hear about this."

I glared at her, still not rising. "Are you gonna help me?"

"Yeah. Now go away. I need to paint my piggies."


	28. Jewelry

**SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG! I had to work on my culture project. And I'll be damned if I don't get an A.**

The following portion of this author's note contains nothing pertaining to SwaC:  
Joker236 - EEW not Farid. :P he reminds me of Justin Beiber: sounds a LOT younger than he is. Dustfinger forever! Haha, you're funny...I laugh every time I read your reviews.

**

* * *

  
**

Sonny

"Hey, Tawni! We're rehearsing in five. Ooh, cute color!"

"Thanks!" she squeaked, admiring her cherry red toenails adoringly. Then she looked up at me and awkwardly looked at the sofa. "Oh! What is that?" she exaggerated, pointing to a black leather bracelet on the couch.

I growl/exhaled and picked up Chad's bracelet. "It's Chad's. Now why would Chad's bracelet be in here?"

"Oh! I do not know. By the way, that reminds me: Chad texted me and said you left something at his apartment and that you should go pick it up."

"That sleazy prick…"

"Hey, watch your language!" Tawni shouted. I shot her a hard glare and she backed down.

"Well it's true! And I don't think I'm gonna bother. I mean, this thing cost what, six dollars? He bought me an extremely expensive necklace before we were even close." My hand went to my upper chest, and my brow furrowed as my fingers only touched skin. I patted frantically around my neck in vain for the cord, scowling when I realized there was no necklace around my collar, dropping my hand as I discovered the dreadful truth.

"He…has my necklace. That's what's at his place, isn't it?" I asked rhetorically. I crossed my arms over my chest, forcing my smile to be pleasant. "Well, it's from him, and he hurt me, and I don't want it back," I lied. Of course I wanted it back—it was beautiful.

Tawni's face contorted into a look that said she felt compelled to do something she really didn't want to, and rolled her eyes, taking a cleansing breath before saying, "Just go over there and get the stupid necklace."

"Tawni, who's side are you on?" I demanded, throwing my hands down and hearing the bracelet connect with the carpet.

"I'm on _my_ side, which means I do things spontaneously for both sides of a situation I really could care less about just for my own entertainment. Besides, I wanted to borrow that necklace…"

"Then _you_ get it!"

"JUST—go get the necklace!"

---

I didn't want the necklace. It wasn't _that_ beautiful. And if I showed up at his door, I'd just be giving Chad what he wanted. Hadn't I been working long and hard to prove that Chad Dylan Cooper didn't get everything he wanted?

It was six. I thought all this in the parking lot of his apartment complex. Obviously, I had issues if I had driven all the way here with his bracelet on my wrist, without turning back even now.

One thing I had thought on the way here was that this could be a good time to show Chad I was completely over it, three days later, hit him where it hurts. But let's face it—I'm not exactly the best at acting when my feelings insisted on being so vivid. That, and I am the most terrible liar. I could just see it now: me walking up to and rapping on his door, trying to be strong but melting as our eyes connected, a cocky smirk on his face as he took advantage once again of how naïve I was.

Determined now to prove to myself such would not happen, I released my seatbelt with unnecessary force, causing me to fumble clumsily, which only frustrated me more. I yanked the door open, or tried to, realizing I hadn't used enough power to open it in my first tug, and marched up the steps (a bit more slowly than I might have liked, lest I should fall), followed by another flight, and yet another. I was panting by the time I reached Chad's floor, stopping to catch my breath before marching up to the door and knocking with wild abandon.

My stomach flipped and I knew immediately this was a mistake. I was going to fall right into his cheating arms.

But I wasn't the one that melted when the door swung open. To my great shock, Chad's face displayed an intense amalgamation of deep pain and relief, and I could see a tear glint on one of his cheeks just before he wiped it away. "You…you came."

I hardened my face, resolving not to completely dissolve. "You have something of mine. And this is yours," I put simply, holding out the bracelet for him."

He smiled, obviously attempting to charm me. "Won't you come in?"

I nodded and held my head high as I entered the room. He seemed sincere…but he also had when he used to hold me. _Wow…"used to" seems like a world away_, I thought.

He walked into his room and came out a moment later with the necklace. Instead of handing it to me, he unclasped the back, looking down at it and turning his eyes up at me pleadingly. I couldn't resist, pulling my hair aside with my hand acting as a scrunch, and he fastened the band behind my neck.

It took effort to make my face straight again, but I succeeded before turning around to look at him again. "Thank you. Now I'm going to head home, before I get in _more_ trouble on account of you."

His face fell. Well, come on—he deserved this! I shouldn't be feeling sorry for him like I did right then!

---

_This is not my day_, I thought as I lay facedown on my bed. Well, this was a rotten New Years Eve. I couldn't even celebrate it now because my mom had basically blown up at me because she evidently had had a tip-off from Tawni where I was.

_Should've Said No_ by Taylor Swift was about to end, as I could hear through my iHome. Then I heard a scuffling sound, and supported myself on my hands to look around the darkened room.

Thinking it was nothing, I scurried to hit the "skip" button as _Mr. Brightside_ came on, switching it to _Whatcha Say_ by Jason Derulo.

Then something completely unexpected but still somehow expected came through my window: an egocentric jerk-throb with a twig in his hair and an unsteady grin on his face.


	29. Sneak Out?

**Okay, another short chapter, but don't hate. I think it's cute :3 but that's just me.**

**XxX Farah XxX and Everafterjunkie - You are probably the ONLY ones who don't hate Vivi's guts! Glad you like her and glad you like the story.**

WARNING: the following portion...basically is just about Fablehaven  
Joker236 - Yes, I'd have to say you are the only one I reply to in this section. Ha! Not sure many SwaC fans read Fablehaven or Inkheart, much less both. Hope the band thing went well.  
If I had Meggie read me straight there it would feel like cheating, but I'll figure something out. And why on earth would I want to subject Raxtus to the real world?  


* * *

Chad

"Pardon the intrusion," I apologized lightly, smoothing out my clothes with my hands. "Tawni called and told me she screwed everything up again."

"Go away, Chad," she commanded shakily. I heard her sniff as I waited for my eyes to adjust. I came slowly over to where I thought she was.

"So, this is how you're bringing in the New Year? Alone, in your bedroom, with the lights off, crying and listening to music…" I paused as I listened to part of a verse, and smirked, laughing silently to myself. "And that's no way to spend _any_ night."

My eyes had adjusted and she was glaring at me angrily, arms crossed and on her bed. It was kind of eerie. I backed up a few steps.

"Look, Sonny, I just want your sincere forgiveness. We don't have to be together again…I just need to hear you say it so I can sleep at night." Her look didn't soften. "I never meant to hurt you, alright? I admit it was a stupid thing to do to kiss Vivi. Really stupid. But I don't care for her, okay? I never did. And I don't know where the hell she is now, but it doesn't matter, and if she ever shows up again I'm turning her away because she has made a royal mess of my life."

She continued to glare.

"Our life, I mean." I thought I heard a growl. "Or our live_s_," I corrected again.

Mmm, what'cha say?

_Ooh, that you only meant well?_

"Well of course I did!" I answered the music stupidly. "Um…well, you know. I mean, at the moment it seemed like a good idea. And, in all fairness, it's your fault."

Her eyes bored into me like razors.

"I mean," I added quickly, realizing how it had been taken. "You always put me in your mood, Sonny, and that's trying to make everyone around me feel happy. But obviously I can't do that for both you and Vivi."

Had she even blinked since I had been there?

"Well, if you insist," I said after a moment, placing one of my gorgeous half-smiles on my face and meandering towards the window with my hands in my pockets. "I'll just be going, then."

Scaling the apartment had not been easy, by the way. Within a few seconds I was out the window in an awkward position, where my hands were behind me bracing myself against the windowsill, and my feet were before and below me on the not-too-terribly-sturdy branch of a tall tree.

I waited in this uncomfortable position for a full five seconds before I heard Sonny call, "But Chad…it's…"

"Yeah?" I called back.

I faintly heard her sigh. "It's cold outside."

I smiled to myself. Success! "Well, then, by all means, come with me and keep me warm!"

"Chad! I can't sneak out!"

Backtrack. "Sonny, you always have to do everything the way your mom tells you. She hasn't really been fair to you lately. It doesn't hurt to rebel once awhile."

"Yeah, totally," I heard her scoff as I tilted my head back to see an upside-down Sonny leaning out the window, hands right beside mine. "Have you forgotten the entire reason I'm grounded? It's because I went off to see _you_," she spat the pronoun with forced disgust, "without telling my mom where I was going."

"Oh, come on! She's not going to trust you anytime soon. Just come with me!"

"You don't think about the future, do you?" she pressed. "That's the whole reason we're in this mess—you didn't stop to think how your actions would affect anything. Well, I'm not going to compromise my mom's trust yet again and blow any chance I potentially could still have to—"

"This is a stimulating conversation, Sonny, it really is, but I'm not exactly a fan of staying in precarious positions for very long. It's obvious you're on the fence about this, so hurry up and make a decision and I'll be on my way."

I pushed off from the windowsill, leaning myself towards the tree and embracing the trunk as soon as I reached it. About halfway down I heard leaves rustling above me. Success.

---

"I hope you're happy with yourself," Sonny griped as she fumbled with the seatbelt. I put my tongue in my cheek to try to hide my smirk.

"You didn't have to come. I didn't force you. Now stop pretending you're not enjoying this so I can stop laughing."

She relaxed halfway there, and I think she even smiled at me once.


	30. Window

**So guess what?? This story has had almost 11,500 hits! And it's had 45+ faves and 49+ alerts! Geez, this is awesome. Thank you guys so much!  
**

**Sorry, these chapters keep getting shorter and shorter. The only explanation I have today is Harry Potter...reading FredxHermione fanfictions, reading the first book, writing...three...pages of my own fanfiction for it...sorry...Fred Weasley is a fascinating subject (don't read too much into that).**

**Joker236 - I really need to figure out how to get to Raxtus, but I'll think of something. Who knows, I could find a fairy shrine somewhere else and--uh, get turned into dandelion seeds...not a good plan...  
But I wouldn't mind ditching this world for a few years to be with my wonderful fairy dragon! However I don't think Wyrmroost is as accomidating to humans as I would like. Raxtus hates it there, too, so maybe we could just escape to Narnia or something.**

* * *

Sonny

"Happy New Year, Chad," I whispered as we sat by the fire, my head resting on his shoulder, my stupid heart resting in the palm of his hand. He took a finger and lifted my face toward his, and kissed me.

"Happy New Year, Sonny."

No, we hadn't gone straight to his house; he'd taken me to some Hollywood club, which we'd stayed at for about five minutes before Chad got bored. I was relieved to get out of there; it had been a bit too crazy for me.

It was 2:40 but I felt so awake—which was a good thing, because I would need some level of consciousness if I hoped to climb the tree back up to my room later.

I shivered and Chad wrapped his arms tightly around me. "D'you want a blanket or something?"

"Uh, sure. Thanks, Chad."

After a few minutes of stepping into his room, I heard him exclaim "gah!" and ran to his side. Palm to face, he pointed toward the window for me, where a black combat boot with orange laces could be seen coming through.

"Vivi…"

"Oh! Chain! You're in here?" a muffled voice squeaked as a manicured hand appeared over the windowsill. "If you wouldn't mind helping me in…"

Chad sighed and went over to the window to help the girl in, and she bounced and hugged him excitedly. When her eyes rested on me, her smile disappeared and she released him, crossing her arms. "Oh. Sonny," she stated with disdain.

I wanted to deck her. "Nice to see you, too, Viv."

"It's Vivi," she corrected, marching up to me and standing uncomfortably close, drawing herself up to appear taller than she was.

"Come on, you guys, it's a new year…" Chad said. His steady tone was ruined by a crack in his voice. "Let's just…leave the past there. Hakuna matata, you know?"

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and forced a smile before looking at the antagonist. "Happy New Year."

"Same to you," she snapped.

"Uh…either of you want to watch a movie?"

Vivi and I glared at each other a moment longer before striding through Chad's bedroom door and sitting on complete opposite ends of the couch. He grabbed a bunch of Blu-Ray discs and hesitantly sat between us, obviously uncomfortable with the tension. "So uh…what'cha wanna watch?"

"Anything but The Proposal," Vivi said, throwing a disgusted look at said movie. "Why do you even have that movie?"

"Oh my gosh that's my favorite movie ever, Chad!" I lied with fake enthusiasm as I scooted closer to Chad to cuddle up. "Of course, it would have been _so _much better with you in it."

He half-smiled at me and I made my eyes and smile wide, until he finally gave in. when he got up to insert the movie, Vivi gave me a look of pure, raw, unadulterated abhorrence.

Success.

"Hey, Chad, I thought coming in through peoples' windows was _your_ thing," I added as he returned to the couch. He flashed an uncomfortable smile and put his face in his hands.


	31. Fight

**Sorry! I finished this yesterday and forgot to post it until now...**

You guys hate Vivi so much it makes me cackle! I LOVE antagonist characters...chain saw accident? Props to you, eromdaer451QI.  
Ameliaad - It's cold outside. Nice. Unfortunately most of my day has been taken up by an addition to my culture project...  
k2gal615 - *high fives*

Warning: The following part of this author's note is mainly a reply to Joker236 because I'm too lazy to just send said reader a message...  
I dunno, mixing Raxtus with Sonny is just asking for weird...but maybe I could take Vivi with me :D and yes...dragons rule all. But satyrs are right up there with them and centaurs are pretty much just a*holes (pardon my Duggish).

* * *

Chad

These girls would be the death of me. No, I don't mean in the sense of being driven to insanity, I mean I now feared the elbows and fists swinging wildly but determinedly between the two girls would knock me out cold, and that would play a huge role in destroying my career, which was my life. Thus, they would end my life. The end of life, in case it hasn't occurred to you, is death.

I'm not sure exactly how the fight was triggered; I suppose it sort of just…blew up. If you keep pumping helium into a balloon, sooner or later everyone's going to sound like Fred Figglehorn.

"…and I have ten times the dignity you ever will!" Vivi shrieked.

"No, you? You're just a slut!" Sonny received a prompt bitch-slap for that, with enough force to send her crashing to the floor.

"Hey, shut the hell up, alright? Who are _you_ to judge my morals?"

Vivi planted both her knees on either side of Sonny and pinned down both her arms. she didn't get very far because Sonny kneed her in the backside and threw her off of herself, getting up and ducking right as Vivi took a swing for her head. The momentum of the swing kept her arm continuing right to a wall. She cried out in pain and clutched her wrist, at the same time Sonny kicked her in the back of the legs, causing her to topple over.

I couldn't just sit here and let them hurt themselves—but…they were pretty scary. I had to try, at least, so I took a deep breath and launched myself in between the two, intercepting a pounce from Vivi, which knocked me over. For the moment we both stared at each other in shock, until Sonny started approaching from the left side. I rolled over to my right, pushing Vivi underneath me, and Sonny's kick missed, causing her to fall flat on her back with her feet facing me.

"Both of you just cut it out!"

Vivi giggled and I looked down, blushing when I discovered I was still on her. I rolled to one side and sat up, giving Vivi a hand and standing to help Sonny.

"You guys are," I shouted, pausing to look for words, "completely insane!"

I let the two stare on at me as I stormed into my room and slammed the door, briskly opening it back up and trudging over to the girls. Vivi was pulling her bra strap back up to her shoulder and Sonny was coming through her hair with her fingers.

"Look. I think you're both great girls." I walked over to Sonny and put my hand on her shoulder, gazing into my eyes. "Would I be your boyfriend if I didn't think so?" I said smoothly, winking and flashing my CDC half-smile. She blushed.

Then I turned to Vivi and took both her hands into both of mine. She smiled up at me hopefully and I looked away dramatically, as I would on the set of _Mackenzie Falls_. "Vivi…Vivi Violence, you are an amazing girl, and probably…no, definitely the most interesting I've ever met." I looked her in the eyes and faked a pained expression. "But…I'm keeping you here. I can't go anywhere…and you're a free spirit.

"And I think…I think it's time for us to part ways."

She looked down away from my face and withdrew her hands from mine. "I'm not an idiot. I can see right through your bad acting. If you can't stand me, you should have just told me so."

I winced as I watched her storm towards the door and my plans crumble. "I never said I couldn't stand you…"

"Shut up! My _gosh_ I never expected this kind of bullshit from anyone! That is the last time I make friends with some drama queen!" she shouted as the door slammed behind her.

I closed my eyes and drew a shaky breath, tensing and releasing my fists by my sides, and then finally turning around to face Sonny, who looked really uncomfortable and guilty.

Deciding the awkwardness was enough for her, I sighed and let it go, becoming aware I'd been holding my breath for a moment. I walked over and put an arm on her shoulder and she winced, causing me to pull my hand away at the instant. "You alright?"

"Yeah…I mean, I'm gonna have a few nasty bruises, but…it's half my fault." She rubbed her shoulder where I had touched it, and I could tell she was biting her lip and I couldn't help but think it hurt more than she was letting on.

"Well…I think you've been in enough trouble for one morning. It's almost daylight, we should get you home."

Sonny's grimace turned into a frown and her head drooped as she walked over to the door. "Thanks for helping me out…I can't believe I would be so stupid as to start a fight…I don't know—"

I stopped her with a quick kiss. "It's alright…I understand. You saw her as a threat. I mean, I wish you didn't, and I wish you hadn't started beating each other up, but we can't really help that now, can we?"

She smiled lightly and her eyes wandered the room, landing on the clock on the wall. Before I could tell what was happening, I was being tugged out the door and down the stairs.


	32. Moving Out

**Sorry about these short, late chapters! Ugh, I'm so done with this story, I'm ready for it to end...but I can't write fast enough. I mean, I have it all up in my cranium, but I can't type it out fast enough, and don't really have the time (okay that last part is BS, I've been basically watching Shane Dawson the past coupl'a days...)**

**WARNING: don't read the following part of this author's note if you have anything against the awesomeness of satyrs  
Joker236 - Satyrs aren't just cool, they're awesome!! Except Verl...he reminds me of too many people I can't stand. And yeah, there's no doubt I'd fail miserably in a tennis match against Doren and Newel...or any TV show trivia...I don't watch TV an eigth as much as they do!  
Satyrs have always been cool...like Phil from Herculez; he and Pegasus were my fave...and then there's Mr. Tumnas -- I'm pretty sure CS Lewis is the only one who calls them "Fawns".**

**

* * *

  
**

Sonny

I'd done it. I had actually done it! I had snuck out of the house at quarter 'til midnight to hang out with my secret boyfriend, got in a fight with the girl he cheated on me with, and gotten all the way back home and through the window and my mom was none the wiser.

But of course, my conscience had to kick in.

"Honey?" she said as she walked through my bedroom door, sitting at the end of my bed. I sat up, wincing at the pain in my shoulder where Vivi had bit me. My mom's eyes looked guilty, and she couldn't look at me. "Look…I'm sorry. I didn't really…hear you out last night…"

Oh, no…this was going to be when she told me that _she_ was wrong, and how proud of me she was for not putting up a fight. So I had to cut her off.

"Mom…" Was I prepared to tell her? My eyes strayed to the bedside table, holding onto the necklace Chad had given me. As long as I looked at it, I felt brave enough. "I snuck out last night."

I didn't look at her, but I could still see her anger. She was furious. I mean, how could she not be?

"Chad came in through my window…and he apologized for cheating on me…" I drew a shaky breath. "I wasn't gonna go with him, but I climbed out the window and into his car and he took me home.

"We didn't do anything, I swear. You're not going to be a grandmother any time soon." I sighed shakily again and closed my eyes, though I could still see my mother's look of horror and disappointment. "Anyway…when I was at Chad's place, the girl that…that he cheated on me with…came through _his_ window and…we kinda got into a physical fight."

After not hearing anything I peeked an eye open to my mom's indecipherable expression. Finally, in a damaged voice, she managed to ask, "And why are you telling me all this?"

"I didn't want to keep it from you, Mom. I've hurt you a lot lately because of sneaking behind your back and lying and everything…and because I want you to know that I'm going to keep dating Chad."

She looked at me angrily, then confusedly, and then crossly again. "After all he's put you through, after all you and I have been through because of this, you're still going to date him?" Mom stood up now and crossed her arms. "I should think not. Don't forget, young lady, you're _not_ an adult. You're still under a ceiling I'm paying for, and as long as that's true, you'll do as I say."

Why was I so shocked as to her reaction? "Mom, that's not fair! Don't you think I'm mature enough by now…"

"Don't you give me that 'I'm mature' crap! Just because you have a job, a car, and a boyfriend does _not_ mean you are mature in any way!" she said. "In fact, your 'job' is playing dress-up with a couple of silly friends to get some cheap laughs; your car has recently been an accomplice in constantly disappointing me; and your boyfriend is a cheating jerk that you've had behind my back."

She had a point. Of course, being a stupid teenager, I was going to deny it. "Do you ever remember being my age—"

"Yes, Sonny, I remember all too clearly being _your_ age. And believe it or not, I have enough of an imagination to be able to tell what you're going through. It's not entirely your fault; you haven't developed a frontal lobe. But I _never_ expected you to be s—"

"At least I came and told you this time instead of you seeing it on my 'cheap laugh' comedy show!"

She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You are beyond grounded. You may get out of this house for your show and that's it…"

"I don't have to take this! I could leave you right now! I'm a star with my own show. I can do so much more than most teenagers my age."

"You think you can make it out there? Alone?" she shouted back at me. "Fine! Go ahead! From now on you no longer live here!"

What had I just done?


	33. Tears

**So sorry about the tardiness of this chapter; I just didn't really feel rushed today because it's finals day and I don't have school tomorrow. Well, here I've got a lengthy author's note which you need not feel obligated to read, and an equally lengthy chapter for once (or as long as it gets lately). Please enjoy!**

**So guess what? I started a Harry Potter fanfic (not posted yet) and named one of my characters Pomona...turns out that's Professor Sprout's name...fail...  
**

**Do readers and watchers of this show only see things as one-sided? Has no one stopped to consider that Connie may have a point? Maybe kicking her daughter out was too harsh; or was it? Adults are more clever than we give them credit for. Sonny did sneak behind her mother's back, again, to spend the night with a guy who cheated on her, striking up a fight with a girl who came through his window. Does no one see fault in this? Are you all** **simply extreme Sonny-ists in that you nitpick at Chad and Connie, not seeing their honest remorse or reason? I'm sorry for being so on-you all about this, but I never expected fellow readers and writers to stay in one same person's mindset.**

**The following part of this author's note...blah blah blah...  
Naw, verl's just a creep; he's too geeky to be a stalker...**

* * *

Chad

The moment Sonny showed up at my door, I knew something had gone awry. It wasn't just the fact she was there; it was also that she seemed angry, pleased, and slightly nervous at the same time when I opened the door to give her a hug and a kiss.

"What's the matter, Sonny?" I said softly in her ear, making her shiver so I would have an excuse to pull her closer.

"I should've called you on the way here, but…" She racked her brains for the right way to say whatever she was trying to say. "Okay, so…I told my mom that you came over last night…"

"Beg pardon?!"

"…and we got into this huge fight," she continued, nonchalant, as though it didn't matter and she hadn't heard me. "Long story short, my mom sort of…kicked me out."

It took me awhile to realize she was pausing for my reaction, and before I was aware of this and was about to attempt a look of surprise, she pressed on. "I called Tawni but all she said was it was my fault anyways…and she was my only shot at living with someone, and I can't exactly rent an apartment of my own, so…"

She was avoiding eye contact and playing with her fingers, letting her voice trail off. I tried to mask my enthusiasm so as not to seem too eager as I lead her to the couch. "Would you like to move in with me, Sonny?" I asked, knowing and not waiting for the answer. "It's not a big deal. In fact, you should have come to me first. But I should let you know that in a couple weeks, I'm moving back into my house. The big one, to which my fans know the address."

"Oh, right. Gotcha. Thanks so much, Chaddy!"

I froze. "Don't _ever_ call me 'Chaddy'. Ever."

She giggled and nodded.

---

So the first week was fun, and actually went by pretty smoothly. Sonny's mom called her a couple of times to see she was getting along fine on her own, and every morning she would come with me to watch _Mackenzie Falls_ rehearsal for an hour (though she had to hide; if either of our cast mates found out…).

It was all going perfectly. Nothing was going to go wrong.

Until Sonny's mom found out where she was living.

I remember specifically how it happened, in detail, because I had had the scenario narrated to me repeatedly as a sobbing brunette hung up her phone on her mom for the last time.

Now Sonny refused to have anything to do with so much as talking about her mom, which was fine with me, but it seemed to hurt Sonny that Connie wasn't checking up on her anymore.

The particular night on which I reflected on this, Sonny was doing her live show. She didn't want me to risk being seen by Tawni (who was under the impression we were still broken up) and insisted I go home, and have Tawni drop her off a few blocks away from my apartment complex.

Leave it to Sonny to completely neglect donning any form of disguise and fight off a huge crowd of fans on her way to run frantically into my apartment.

"Whoa, Sonny, what happened?" I said, putting to the back of my mind the fact I wasn't wearing a shirt and my hair was still damp, rushing over to help her up from where she sat keeping the door closed. She looked up at me, disgruntled, looking away when she caught sight of my toned body.

"I—forgot—to—" she panted as I pulled her to my chest into a hug. "And…uh…a-and…" She was breathing normally now, but her heart was still pounding. "And…then—then that's what…what happened…"

I chuckled quietly, looking down at her red face. "You know, if this bothers you in any way, I could go put on a shirt…"

She straightened up, hands still on my chest, and looked into my eyes. "No, that's fine…it's…your hair is…yeah…"

"Articulate today, aren't we?" I chuckled again, giving Sonny a sly half-smile as I slowly pulled her closer towards me. Our faces were inches away.

Her mouth hung open as she tried to say something, but she faltered and bit her lip, uttering a small whimper as she leaned into me. I backed up ever slowly until my bare back met the far wall of my bedroom.

Quite ignoring the pounding and screaming at my door, I held tighter to the girl in my arms and her hands slithered behind my neck as she stood on tiptoe to kiss me. My hands dropped down to her waist and hers twisted into my still-damp hair. Twisting slightly so my back faced the bed, I slowly reclined, letting us fall back onto it.

I quickly but secretively maneuvered my hands back to her shoulders and brushed her collarbone with my lips, and she let out a sigh. I'd just gotten one hand on the top button of her purple plaid shirt—when she froze.

Her lips detached from mine and she pushed away from me, though hesitantly. I stood up as soon as she did, just about to apologize, the corner of my eye brought attention to a shadow in the window and I turned around just in time to see a cell phone disappear. It had a rhinestone Jack Skellington decal, and I instantly knew who the owner was.

I groaned and Sonny ran past me to the window, peering into the branches of the tree outside. "That girl just won't leave me alone!"

Sonny looked on the verge of tears…again. "This is totally the end. The _end_. My mom doesn't trust me, and now neither will Tawni, and the whole United States will think of me as nothing more than a child star gone wild…and…"

She didn't need to finish. But in my mind…it was already blown, right? Not much we could do to fix it, especially not now…but when I reached forward to grab her hand, she bolted for the door.


	34. Grudge

**I am exTREMELY sorry for being so late on this, and have no worthy excuse as to why I am not answering your reviews like I usually do. Thank you so much for the good reviews, by the way; they make me feel like I've just caught the Snitch in a match against Slytherin.**

That sould give you a clue as to why I have been shirking my responsibilities to this story. You see, I got the entire 7-book-set of Harry Potter for Christmas, and recently have started re-reading them (and quoting and buying related sweatshirts). I've been so absorbed in them lately that I've read the first two-and-three-fourths of the series in two weeks. I am terribly sorry for the delay though I can't honestly promise it won't happen again.

I must also blame the unnecessarily extensive and boring tales of The Lord of the Rings movies, the third of which I watched today, and it still escapes me as to why the story needed to be drawn out to three and a half hours of my life that I'll never get back. But I had to watch it...because of Aragorn...Don't try to comprehend the way my mind works!  


* * *

Sonny

I was going to stop her. I had no idea where she was headed, or where she was now, but I was going to stop that stupid emo chick from ruining my life any further. Having no idea how I got there, I was behind the wheel of my car and zooming around the parking lot. I ended up not needing to search long, because…

She was following me.

My foot slammed on the brake as I caught sight of a determined girl in zebra-striped skinny jeans jogging towards me in sparkling Converse with an iPhone in her hand, just outside of the parking lot. I rolled down the window as she approached, smirking.

I knew she was expecting anger, or even fear, so I was firm not to give her the satisfaction. Instead, I dredged up my feelings from the nights I had imagined him kissing her, holding her in his arms, running his hands through her hair, down her back—because I had cried uncontrollably those nights, and recalling those feelings put just the right amount of tears in my eyes for her smile to drop into a look of horror.

"Please…please don't send that picture, Vivi! Not to anyone!" I pleaded, water rolling down my cheeks. "I love Chad, and he loves me, and…we've gone through so much to be together, and already I've risked so much…"

A pained expression crossed her face and she looked down at her phone. "Why should I do anything for you? You took away from me any chance I had with him." Her voice came out slightly more feebly than she seemed to have intended.

"Because…because…" I faltered, thinking something of truth would be more effective here, or she would see right through me. My eyes grew wide with the real horror of the truth as I said, "because you're not famous. You don't have to dodge fans and sneak behind people's backs to date who people won't let you. You don't have to live in fear of being taken out of context, having your life slowly destroyed as a result. But I do, and Chad does, and you should be really, _really _grateful, because you can chose anyone you want. You're free to go off with your friends and do things in private, and hey, you can even _cheat_ on someone and not become headline news."

My voice was cracking now, and my throat hurt. I began to regret my own life. "Please…my credibility is—quite literally—in your hands. If you send that picture…"

She closed her eyes in a grimace of remorse. That could only mean—"I…I already sent the picture, Sonny…I put it on my MySpace and sent it to Tawni…"

And soon there'd be a picture of me, on top of a shirtless Chad, on his bed. And I would look like a whore. And Tawni would never speak to me again, because I had lied to her yet again about Chad's and my relationship. And my mom would not welcome me back. How could she? I could just hear her now: "You're obviously well-off enough that you see fit to start a family. I don't see why you need _me_ anymore."

"I'm sorry, Sonny…"

I put a hand up and looked down, closing my eyes, silently telling her that I wouldn't hear another word.

Just when I was about to plummet myself into a sea of anger, deeper into the nadir of rage, allowing hate to grab me by the heart and tug me into the depths, cold tears clashing with the searing heat of my face…I stopped. A new thought was breaking chains that had been strangling it for so long.

"I…I forgive you, Vivi…" I said to the shock of both of us. The thought was spreading, giving me a sense of epiphany. "What are we doing?"

I put my hand on the door handle, and the confused other girl stepped back apprehensively. "Do you see it? Can you see the future if we carry on like this? Constantly ripping on each other, only tearing down lives and doing nothing constructive for ourselves?"

She gave this a thought, her eyes as wide as her gaping mouth. "Imagine what Chain thinks of me!" she breathed.

I nodded and sighed. "What's he think of _me_? I completely walked out on him…" I looked back up at her sorrowfully. "We're terrible friends."

Her eyes narrowed and she opened the car door behind me, sliding over to the passenger's seat.

"We may be now, but not for long. We owe someone an apology."

I got in after a moment of confusion and started the engine. I could see her look over at me from the corner of my eye as I made a U and turned us around. "And I owe you one, Sonny…sorry again."

* * *

**Not that it isn't fascinating writing and all, but...I'll pick it back up tomorrow. :)**

**And until further notice,**

**Mischief managed.  
**


	35. Little Less Drama, Little More Kiss Me

**Hey, so sorry about not posting yesterday. I was kind of...glow-bowling until midnight and sort of having a dance party in the rain with my besties this morning. But that PROVES I have a life so I'm happy.**

**Into the fourth HP book now, just thought I might keep you updated :)**

**And I know the last mentioned song in this one is kind of cheesy but...wait, why am I apologizing? I'm the author here!**

**

* * *

  
**

Chad

I'll admit I was a bit bewildered to see Sonny show up at my door with Vivi right next to her, neither of them glaring at the other but instead looking up at me awkwardly and guiltily until I overcame the shock of it and let them in.

"Chad, we just wanted to say—"

"We're really sorry, Chain, we've kinda been jerks—"

"And we don't blame you," Sonny said as she put a hand on my arm, "if you never want to speak to us again."

Vivi cleared her throat. "Well, I—uh, actually I wouldn't blame you either."

An unstoppable smile broke out on my face. "You have _no_ idea how much easier life is going to be."

---

"Hey, turn it up! This is my _jam_!" Vivi panted, still jumping up in the air alongside Sonny to the beat of The Party Song by Emery.

"Your 'jam'?" I asked in amusement as I reached for the volume dial. "Since when do you say 'jam'?"

_I know you__  
I know you  
I know you_

"Since the first time I buttered my morning toast!" she joked, causing Sonny to break out into a fit of laughter and almost collapse onto the sofa. "Just—kidding—"

"Hey," I said as I joined the dancing (though much less exuberantly). "I think we could use a few more dancers. What d'you think?"

Both girls stopped jumping and nodded vigorously.

Their miraculous make-up had occurred the night prior to this, and it was now 8:00. The night was young. There was no reason we couldn't take this merrymaking to a somewhat-more-lively place, right?

I reached over and turned off the music. "How about this: I text everyone from _Mackenzie Falls _and tell them to invite all their friends and we take this thing to my house. This apartment is _way_ too small."

Sonny looked a bit hesitant, but Vivi was instantly excited about the idea, evident by her excited bouncing which caused the puffs dangling from her legwarmers to follow her movement. "That sounds so fun! You don't even know! I wish I could invite my friends…but they're in the middle of Nevada at current."

"Hey, you'll be fine," I said absently, selecting the cast mates in my contacts. "Alright, we'll head out in about forty-five minutes. Let's party on!"

Sonny still had not said a word.

---

I couldn't tell if the pulsing feeling was from the music playing from the mix CD Vivi had brought or if everyone's hearts were just racing in unison. I couldn't take one step without another body being right up against mine, and I couldn't recognize most of the strobe-light-bathed crowd. It was _fun_.

A few times, I had glimpsed an apprehensive Sonny in a corner or by the wall, panting for breath and scanning the crowd nervously. This was the fifth time.

"You alright?" I shouted over _Abracadavers _to her. She beamed up at me, cheeks flushed. "You enjoying yourself?"

She nodded and put a hand to her chest. "I'm fine; I'm just taking a break from dancing. It's so crazy in here!"

Her excited voice hinted at anxiousness. Clearly she didn't do this often. "Well, as long as you're having fun," I said, smiling. I swung around to my left as a girl in a tight red party dress tapped me on the shoulder, joining with her in dancing.

Then the music changed. I rolled my eyes and glanced over to where Vivi was dancing. "Really? Fall Out Boy?"

"Don't hate!" she shouted back, pointing at me with a euphoric smile.

_You're just the girl all the boys wanna dance with__  
And I'm just the boy who's had too many chances_

Okay, so it was a decent song. Just as I was getting back into the groove (pardon my disco vernacular), I heard a unisonous gasp from behind me, followed by confused murmurs as dancers' heads turned in the direction of the wall I had just stood with Sonny by.

Sonny was still there. But instead of standing, she was lying down.

---

"Are you _positive_ you don't want me to call anyone?" I asked again, holding Sonny steady on the balcony.

"Chad, I'm fine. I feel fantastic as ever. I just got a bit too excited and tired at the same time," she assured me. Then she smiled heartwarmingly. "I'm so glad we did this. It's too fun! And I'm happy we don't have to worry about any more drama between Vivi and I."

We stood there, beaming maudlinly at each other. I cupped her face in my hand and held hers with my other…

_So say, what'cha waiting for?__  
Kiss her, kiss her_

And I put my lips to hers…

And the balcony's French doors burst open by the hand of a fuming blonde.


	36. Well That Was Unexpected

**Before you ask, no I did not create the whole party idea _just_ to narrate with songs. The opportunity merely presented itself and I took advantage. Music is something very important to me; melody and rhythm have been flowing in my veins far longer than words, and when word-weaving and music co-mingle, sparks fly and the creativity just flows.  
**

**Thanks again for all your comments! Sorry all my chapters are only about 1,000 words each...I prefer to keep it short so no one (including me) begins to feel overwhelmed. I mean, it's a fanfiction, not a fantasy novel.**

**

* * *

  
**

Sonny

Every _time_! Had people made it a pastime to interrupt our precious Sonny/Chad moments?

After a I got a few "and think of all I've done for you!"s and a handful of "am I just not important to you anymore?"s, but the main thing on my mind through Tawni's tirade wasn't Chad's look of combined horror and disgust, nor was it the catchy beginning of _Sweetness_ by Jimmy Eat World, which was now blasting inside.

What _was_ on my mind, I was just about to speak. "Who invited you?"

Tawni faltered mid-rant and pulled back her finger, which was pointed straight at my chest, folding her arms and giving me a stubborn upturn of the nose. "Well, _you_ didn't, which I find incredibly rude."

She turned to stalk away, but I caught her pink-leather-clad shoulder before her French-tipped fingers could reach the handle of the door. "You didn't answer my question," I said, leveling with her smugness, trying to keep the tiny hint of devious fire from smoldering in my eyes.

She pursed her glossy lips, obviously under pressure. Luckily for her, she didn't need to open her mouth, because as her eyes searched her lids for a far-fetched answer, the door swung open behind her and the arms of none other than Skyler DeVane slithered around Tawni's waist. A face recognizable to the fans of _Mackenzie Falls_ as Mackenzie's evil half-brother appeared over my startled cast mate's shoulder, smiling blissfully.

Then, he caught sight of Chad, tracing his gaze down Chad's arm to where our fingers interlocked. His smile had slowly inverted until he finally looked at my face, portraying my rapture at the fact I had something to lecture Tawni about now.

"You hypocrite!" I said. "You have been telling me for—how long now?—that I shouldn't date Chad because he's on our rival show? How do you explain that?"

"Well—we…I…"

Chad and I exchanged mischievous looks and donned identical smirks. "Well, well, well, Sonny, I don't think it would be fair to ever let them forget this."

"No, Chad, I don't believe it would."

"And I now pronounce Skyler a copycat. Dating a _Random_…you should be ashamed," said Chad with an air of thick dissatisfaction, like a parent in a high place who expected more of their son.

"Actually, Chad Dylan Cooper," Skyler spat back, though a bit shakily. "I was dating Tawni _way_ before you two even started."

"Ha! Fraternizing with the enemy, then!" Chad accused. I stifled a giggle; Chad was clearly enjoying this too much.

"Catch-22, much? That's not fair!" Tawni whined.

"Come on, Tawn," Skyler said, glaring at Chad and I and standing beside Tawni to take her by the hand. "We can find better company than this."

As soon as the expensive balcony doors closed behind them, Chad and I bent over double in a fit of laughter. "They look ridiculous together!"

"I know, right? But seriously," Chad added, regaining composure, "I have a few choice words for that guy. And maybe it's time for Devon to join a reality survival TV show on a deserted island with ferocious beasts a maniacal host who is actually an insane asylum escapee…"

I stared at Chad, feeling the color drain from his face. The fact that he was able to come up with this stuff without even thinking made me shudder.

"Just…just kidding, of course…ha…" He gave a forced laugh. Then he looked at me, seeing I was now shivering; the cold morning air was finally getting to me. "Do you want to go back inside, now? I think you should be okay…and if you like…collapse…again, I'll take you home."

I smiled half-heartedly. Home…where was that now? I mean, I was living with Chad, but…

"I've been thinking about giving my mom a serious apology. But I don't know if she'll accept it. I just feel like…I've hurt her so much, you know? But I don't think she'll forgive me."

Chad stepped close enough to me that our toes were touching, and reached his hands around to my back. I didn't realize until he pulled me into a hug that my eyes had started tearing up. "Sonny, honey, don't worry about that just yet. It'll be okay, just let this thing stretch out a little bit more, you know? Let her anger dwindle."

We stood there silently for a bit, and the song changed (_Here In Your Arms _by Hellogoodbye). "Sonny, it's cold outside. I think we should go in."

He let go and stepped back an arm's length away, with his strong hands on my shoulders.

"Actually, I'm perfectly content here. As long as your arms are here to warm me up."

Another warm hug turned slowly into rocking back and forth, and before long we were performing an all-out slow dance. I never knew I could even do that.

Our lips can touch

_And our cheeks can brush_

_Our lips can touch_

_Here_

We weren't exactly dancing to the beat, like the people trying to rave inside, but we were more sentient to our own beat. Apparently, Chad's heart was going just as fast as mine.

There's no place else I could be but Here in your arms


	37. Pictures

**Thank you so much for your reviews.**

As I am sure you are all unfortunately aware, classes do not stay as easy as they start in the first week. Due to this, I may try to end this story by next week, because I really don't need another distraction. But no worries; I'll make it good. I'll not tarnish my reputation by rushing this story; I shudder at the thought.  
You'll know when it's the end; I'll tell you. I don't want to say the chapter will be titled "the end", because even as I contemplate doing so I wonder if it would make a good title for a future chapter which is not, in fact, the end. I'll tell you in an author's note, and my story's status will read: "Complete".

* * *

Chad

_Sedulous? What the hell does that mean?_ I wondered as I blearily stared at the script before me, attempting to stifle a yawn. The rest of my cast mates were as lifeless and it was eerily silent.

"Who wants to just…skip this today?" I said. Portlyn looked up at me with eyes surrounded by a ring of purple, and rolled them, nodding feebly with the rest of the cast as they started to disperse.

I caught Skyler by the arm and he looked at me with stifled surprise. "Don't do anything stupid," I said, watching the thought graze over his vacant expression. Well, at least I wouldn't have to keep him in line; he'd probably fall asleep the moment he stepped out the door. He looked awful.

Looking around me to see if anyone was paying particular attention, I made my way as casually as I could off the set and down towards the set of _So Random!_ to see if my girlfriend was having any trouble with rehearsal. Evidently she wasn't, because she was wearing a mirthful smile (quite contrary to Tawni's expression) as she dropped her script, squealed, and launched herself into my arms.

"Wow, you don't need a lot of sleep to function," I mumbled. It took a lot of energy to both hold Sonny upright _and_ move my lips. "How's rehearsal going?"

"Well, Tawni's downright depressing but…I just had such a good time last night, nothing can dampen my spirits!" she said over-cheerfully.

I raised an eyebrow, holding her at a distance so I could look her up and down. Her hands were twitching and her smile wasn't going to quit. Before she could deduce that I was suspecting what I did, I pulled her close to me and kissed her without hesitation, pulling away sharply. Sure enough, on her breath was the potent taste and smell of "Rockstar Energy, Sonny? Really?"

She looked at me sheepishly and tried to kiss me again, but I turned my head quickly.

"Sonny, how many energy drinks have you had today?"

"Um…maybe two of them?" she squeaked quietly. My hands still on her, I craned my neck to see behind Sonny and spotted two empty cans cast to the side of the stage and a third, probably only half-drunk, perched on the _Check It Out_ counter. "I wanted to be awake for rehearsal…" she quickly defended.

"Sonny, that's so dangerous!"

"It's not like I do it every day!"

"No, one would have been enough," I finalized, marching up to the stage and giving Tawni the Hollywood smile-and-nod as I passed her on the way to Sonny's unfinished poison—I mean, beverage of doom—um, energy drink.

As I determinedly made for the doors, picking up the two other discarded cans on the way, I was blocked by Sonny. "Please, Chad? Just let me finish that one!"

"What are you, an energy drink addict all of a sudden?" I said rhetorically, striding ahead of her and pushing a set of double doors out of my way. I was momentarily set back by the harsh wind, and my abrupt halt caused Sonny to collide with me, sending the drink sloshing towards my shirt. I stepped back just in time to see the fizzing liquid cascade over the sidewalk curb, and whirled around to face her. "Watch it!"

"Chad, no, I'm not addicted!" she said stubbornly, receiving a scoff in reply as I continued to round a corner hugging the building. "No, really! I just…kinda…spent ten bucks on that."

I stopped again, this time holding the can over the opening of a trash reciprocal just in time for my prediction to carry out. It slipped from my hands and landed with a _clunk_, and I gave Sonny a disapproving sideways look as I dropped the other two in after it.

"You spent ten dollars on an energy drink."

"Well…"

Before I could give her another reproachful look, something started batting around at my ankles. I looked down to see my face.

My face and Sonny's, to be exact, with hers right against mine. I picked up the magazine and was shocked to see the picture Vivi had taken, of Sonny and I lying on my soft bed, kissing, without my shirt. It had been cropped so only our torsos and up were visible. From the bottom right corner of the front page of _Tween Weekly _was a negatively connotative picture of Sonny at the party, with her red shirt revealing her navel. I assumed the picture had been taken mid-jump. To the left, in bold yellow letters reading something along the lines of a possibility of me being a bad influence on Sonny.

"This is so out of context!" she shouted in horror. "Well, there goes any hope of ever getting my mom to talk to me again!"

"I want to know who took this picture," I said simply, pointing at the one from the party.

Sonny looked at me in bewilderment, as if I had just brought up an irrelevant need to buy more dental floss. "Chad, anyone could have taken it. I mean, what teenager doesn't have a camera phone, at the very least?"

"No, a camera phone can't take a picture this good."

"Chad, what does it matter who _took_ the picture?" she said impatiently. Whatever she was about to say, she never did, because a gust of wind from the other direction gave her a mouthful of her own hair and she tugged me back inside by the arm.

Once we were safe from the outside weather, she maintained a slower pace, a far-off look in her eyes. So I stopped, dropped the magazine where we were, and pinned her against the wall by her wrists, admiring the startled look in her eyes before I kissed her. I could feel her relax.

"Hey, stop worrying," I muttered briefly. She interlocked her fingers behind my back and pulled me against her body. The magazine seemed to have vanished from her mind. Mission accomplished.


	38. Sonshine On A Rainy Day

**Hey, anyone wanna check out my poem? (take out the asteriks*, there are four of them)  
http*://www.*fictionpress.*com/s/2767164/1/Sweet_Weekend**

Shut up, I know I haven't posted in two days. My social life + Harry Potter are to blame. Well, okay, mainly Harry Potter.

Speaking of Harry Potter, I have a strong feeling that that's where my next fanfiction is going to be catagorized after I finish this one.

And speaking of THAT: the end of this story is drawing near. But if you like this story, you might like A Whole New Year, which you can find on my profile.

I don't want you to feel like I'm soliciting viewers, but if you enjoy my work the easiest way to read more would be to subscribe to me.

Thanks so much for your reviews, sorry I'm not replying to them; this author's note is already long enough. ;)

**

* * *

  
**

Sonny

"Hey, Sonny?" Tawni said timidly as we gathered our stuff to leave. I looked up. She had hardly talked to me today.

"Yeah?" I replied, looking up at her, my purse halfway up my arm.

Her eyebrows were scrunched and she was avoiding eye contact. She opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it. Her expression relaxed a bit and she said, "I'm sorry for being such a hypocrite. You know…about the whole Skyler thing…"

"Oh," I said unsteadily, walking toward the door. "Well…I forgive you, I guess, but…it really wouldn't be fair of me to disapprove of you dating him. I mean, your heart wants what it wants, right?" I smiled to myself, knowing I was speaking from personal experience.

"Right…and I'm sorry about being such a jerk about Chad. And I'm sorry—" Her breathing hitched here, and she seemed to be second-guessing herself, but she continued. "I'm sorry…that…that I didn't let you stay with me. I mean, you obviously needed a place and your staying with Chad just sort of snowballed and…I know what it's like to hit rough patches with my parents."

Well, that was unexpected; way out of Tawni's range of emotions. "Oh. Oh, uh…no, it's fine. I mean, you couldn't have foreseen this. And it's not like you did anything sleazy like Vivi did with that picture."

Her eyes flickered up to me and then she turned and walked out the door. "Yeah. Well…see you tomorrow, Sonny."

---

The wind hadn't necessarily subsided. Quite the opposite, in fact, as I noticed on my way to the _Falls_, all the while being pelted with stinging droplets of water. California rain is so wimpy.

I slunk in through the back door, nodding to security on my way in, and ducked behind a few prop pillars, watching the scene play out before me, seeing Portlyn from the back holding hands with Chad.

"I don't think I could ever love you like you love me, Mackenzie," Portlyn said, as her character.

Chad gasped, looking both hurt and shocked. Then he released Portlyn's hands and looked frantically around him. "Someone, anyone! Get help; Portlyn is suffering from delusions."

He took Portlyn into his arms and I felt a pang of jealousy, even though I knew it was just for the show. In a minute, flashing lights and sirens could be seen and heard just offstage and two men came over to Chad, taking Portlyn out of his arms.

"Take care of her. I know she won't be able to live without me much longer, without being here at…" He turned his head dramatically toward a camera. "the Falls."

A bell rang and the actors relaxed their poses. Someone said something through a microphone, but I wasn't paying attention; I was watching Chad come ever closer to my hiding spot, glancing around briefly to be sure we were all alone. He reached an arm through the pillars, grabbed the front of my shirt and tugged me toward him for a quick kiss.

Then he smiled and said, "Wait for me by the car," and winked. I didn't care how often he and I had done this; it wasn't getting old and I hoped it never would.

---

"She actually _apologized_?" Chad gasped, gaping at me. "But she wouldn't do that…unless it was something really serious."

"Chad, watch OUT!" I screamed in panic, clutching the steering wheel and turning it straight. "Yes, she did. And I know…but maybe Tawni's changed, you know? Maybe she's listening to her conscience more."

"Tawni. Conscience," he scoffed, smirking. "The day Tawni listens to her conscience is the day Zac Efron is hotter than me. And please, refrain from stating any falsities just to spite me."

Stifling a giggle, I shuffled in my seat and looked out the window to the dark sky. Rain was slinking down the window and pounding against the cover of Chad's convertible. My eyes fell on him again; his blue jeans, the small bit of navy blue peeking out from his half-zipped Volcom sweatshirt…I had to agree with him. At least, right now, he was way more attractive than Zac Efron had ever seemed to me.

"Chad?"

"Hmm?"

"What's your opinion on rain?" I asked, thinking over my words and wondering why I had even brought it up.

He seemed to wonder why, too. "Well…right now, it's annoying."

"Annoying?"

"Yeah. I mean, we're trying to get somewhere, it's dark, and the rain serves no purpose but to blur the taillights of the cars ahead of us."

"Oh," I said. "Well, what about rain just in general? Like, any other time?"

"It's cold and gross," he said, prepared. "You can't really escape it. You get drenched from point A to point B, and the best of sweatshirts don't exactly provide excellent protection. The water just beads up and gets your hands all wet when you take it off."

"Well, yeah, that may be a _little_ uncomfortable, but…"

"And it's dangerous. I mean, you can slip and fall in puddles or mud and crack your head on the pavement or something," he continued, on a roll now. "And it blocks out the sun."

I considered this a moment. "Well, _I_ think rain is beautiful."

"Please explain your reasoning, 'cause I don't get it at all."

I took a smiling breath and exhaled sharply. "Well, each raindrop is fluid, and clear as a diamond. It magnifies small details, too. Have you ever stopped to marvel at the beauty of raindrops on a flower petal?"

I watched him think awhile and went on. "And it makes the earth smell fresh and crisp when it's done. And it's not just the puddles that fill up; there are beautiful streams, ponds, rivers, lakes…like Lake Tahoe. If there was _no_ precipitation at all, the whole twenty-two miles would be just a two-thousand-foot-deep hole. Not to mention Tahoe Tessie would be out of a home.

"And then there's the sound it makes." I reached for the dial to turn off _Rainbow Veins_, which had been playing softly, and listened intently to the soft, peaceful pattering of the rain, like fingers drumming on a window. "It's melodic. It's rhythmic. Peaceful. You can't deny that."

"But it blocks out the sun," Chad persisted, turning the music back on. He looked at me gravely. "I cannot _live_ when it's not…_sunny_."

Maybe I read too much into this, because I blushed. "It doesn't always block it out, Chad. Sometimes, when there's just enough of a part in the clouds, and it's drizzling just lightly enough…you can see a rainbow."

We pulled in to his place and both unbuckled, though we didn't step out. Then Chad looked at me and leaned over to me, whispering in my ear before he kissed me, "How do you always make everything seem so beautiful?"

And tell me when it rains And I'll blend up that rainbow above you And shoot it through your veins


	39. Tawni Trouble

**While I suppose it goes without saying (and it's a bit too late to do so), I do not own Sonny with a Chance or any of the characters in it, nor (unfortunately) do I own any of the songs or artists I mention in this story.**

* * *

Chad

I didn't know how long we'd been kissing, nor when exactly the music turned off. The volume of the rain outside seemed to be increasing the more passionate we became, or maybe it was the other way around. There wasn't a lot of space between us when Sonny's phone rang, and she pulled away panting.

"It's Tawni," she whispered.

Normally, I would have suggested Sonny chuck it out the window, or would have done it myself. But for some reason, I was as intrigued as Sonny seemed about Tawni's recent behavior.

"Go ahead," I breathed, wondering why we were being so quiet.

Sonny nodded and pressed a button on her phone, putting it to her ear. "Hello?…yeah. No, you're fine." She shrank back into her seat. "What's up—yeah, I saw it…"

Sonny locked eyes with me, a suspicious look on her face. "Wait…what?" She was on the brink of furious tears, wrinkling her nose the way it always did when it stung from crying. "But…why?"

I heard frantic gibbering on the other end, and then a beep, and Sonny held the now silent phone to her ear a few seconds before she threw it angrily at the back seat with a cry of rage. My shock-widened eyes then took in Sonny pressing her hands exasperatedly to her face.

"S-Sonny?" I asked tentatively, extending a hand to touch her shoulder, and relieved when she simply looked up at me rather than attacking. "Uh…hey…what's the matter? Honey?"

"_She_ took the picture! The one of me on the cover of that magazine. And…" She got up out of her seat and started looking around the car frantically. "She said she took more, for the same magazine…worse ones…do you have it still?"

"No, but I can look up the magazine's site on my phone, hang on…" Instead of getting the actual site, Google pulled up a whole bunch of blogs and junk saying how they knew it was "only a matter of time"…and when I clicked Images…

"Media sickens me!" I found myself shouting for the first time in my life, noticing this had shocked Sonny as well. "_Tawni_ did this?"

"Yeah…she said something about being extremely sorry and seeing how much you and I like each other, even though everyone's trying to tear us apart and exploit us, and that she hadn't expected me to actually be _okay_ with her dating Skyler. She also said she'd call my mom and tell her the photos were fake." Sonny took a deep breath and exhaled. "I guess that was kinda harsh, throwing my phone like that. I should give her an apology…"

"Really, Sonny? You're going to apologize for getting mad at an apology." I watched her blush, taking her red cheeks into my hands. "Cutie."

She sighed and went even pinker as we picked up where we had left off, our lips remembering exactly how it was supposed to happen.

---

I read over the lines with strong disinterest. We had _just_ finished an episode, why did we need to start the next one so early? My eyes flicked up off my script and settled on Sonny, who was simultaneously sipping her smoothie and texting on the other side of the café table. Her eyes met mine again, and she rolled them.

"Chad, keep reading. Fifteen more minutes. You can do this! If it helps, I could just stroll on down to the prop house and leave you alone…"

I tried not to laugh. This was totally an empty threat; not only did Sonny love sitting here poking fun at my lack of an attention span, but she wasn't really in any mood to run into Tawni. "No, stay. It's only fifteen minutes, you said it yourself."

She frowned, looking at the low level of her smoothie. "Actually, though…I _was_ thinking of going…"

"You know what?" I said enthusiastically, throwing my script down on the round tabletop, "We _should_ go. We should see a movie or something, you know?"

"No, I meant…going…to my mom's place."

I stared blankly at her.

"Sonny…"

"Chad, I feel miserable! She thinks I'm this horrible kid and the fact I keep avoiding her—"

"She's avoiding you!" I interjected. Curse this girl's conscience!

"I know. But I really, really need to tell her I'm sorry. It's not entirely her fault we're not on speaking terms anymore."

I wanted to shout some sense back into her, but eyes flicking back and forth between the two of us stopped me from doing anything rash. I had two options: read a boring script for fifteen minutes, or go quietly and take Sonny to her mom's.

She's lucky I love her.


	40. Prodigal

**Hey, how come I only got ONE email out of FOUR reviews??? That's annoying.**

**Sorry, this one's a bit short, but it is vital to the progression towards the long-awaited end. Well, maybe you all haven't been awaiting it, but...hah...**

* * *

Sonny

There are times when nervous butterflies are a positive feeling; they make you feel warm and giggly. There are other times, though, when the nervousness overpowers the tickling sensation, and you just feel like puking instead. But, I had made Chad take me this far against his will, and I wasn't backing down at the last minute.

I tried not to let him see how nervous I was, though this was entirely impossible not only due to how hard I was squeezing his hand, but also how I kept grimacing instead of smiling. Why was I this nervous? She was still my mom…if I still deserved to address her as such.

Trying to push this thought out of my mind, I inched my fist toward the white door with agonizing sluggishness, watching my knuckles extend closer to the hard surface. I heard a sound beside me and dropped my arm in fright, but when I turned to my left I noticed it was just Chad, sighing impatiently. About to remark about how selfish he was being, I instead followed his arm with my eyes, and realized what it would look like if I apologized to my mom while holding the hand of the culprit of my downfall.

I felt my finger muscles relax as his fingers slid unsurely between the spaces in mine. "Maybe it would be best if you—"

"—wait by the car," Chad finished, nodding understandingly. "Gotcha. Later, then, Sonny."

He leaned toward me and gave me a small peck on the lips, then winked and dashed away.

I became aware of how quickly my heart was palpitating, and drew a long breath as my fist resumed its position inches from the door to my former home, freezing for a second time. What was I prepared to say? "_Mom, I'm sorry for everything I ever did to hurt you. I'm not expecting for you to take me back into your home; I just want you to know how genuinely sorry I am. I don't care if you believe me, but I'd like for you to give me a chance to tell you the truth for once._"

That sounded about right. My chest swelled as I took another breath, held it for a minute, and let it out the same time I knocked on the door. After I did this, I heard nothing but the distant sound of rain still falling on the roof of the apartment. Within a few agonizing moments, the handle clicked and the door swung forward.

At first, my mom just stared blankly at me, and I stared blankly back. Then, avoiding her eyes, I launched into my explanation, trying not to make it sound rehearsed. "Mom, I'm sorry for everything! I'm not expecting for you to let me come back home, but I just want you to know—"

Before I could finish, however, she had enveloped me in a completely unexpected hug. I shut my eyes tight and hugged back as hard as I could. "I'm so sorry, Mom. But none of those pictures were what they looked like—"

"I know, sweetie…Tawni told me. It's okay, honey."

Warm hands smoothed up and down my back.

"You ready to come home?"

---

"Well…I'm still not happy that you want to continue dating Chad," Mom said as we sipped hot chocolate as if everything had only happened yesterday. "But then…I don't see why not. I mean…he drove you here, right? Even though he didn't want to? He gave you a place to stay—which I'm still not too thrilled about but at least you weren't out on the streets…"

"Mom?" I said, a question suddenly occurring to me. "Why _did_ you send me away?"

She smiled and turned to look out the window, clutching her coffee mug in both hands. "Because you were making decisions for yourself without telling me about them. You seemed to think you were so grown up, and I wanted you to see if you really were." She turned to face me. "I guess…I guess you really _are_ more mature than I gave you credit for."

A smile played on the corners of my lips. "So…does this mean I can still date Chad, and you'll be okay with it?"

She winced, but nodded. "I guess…he hasn't hurt you beyond repair…but, if he does anything to hurt you, I want you to be able to have someone to turn to. Now if you'll excuse me, I have laundry to fold."

I couldn't help but beam to myself as she left, and I took out my phone.

"Chad," I wrote, "don't need to stay there. Call you tomorrow," and sent the text with a fully content feeling I hadn't had in weeks.


	41. Gasp

**EL FIN!**

**Sorry for the surprise ending, guys...and sorry it took so long to post. I wanted it to be just perfect.**

**If you like this when you finish, or if you like it now, I urge you to add me to your author alerts list, because you never know when I might spring my next story. It could be weeks, or it could be days (but most likely the former). It might not even be SwaC. Do this with all authors you like; don't just take for granted that they'll post stories in the same category!**

* * *

Chad

"Sonny, change—the—channel!" I panted, wrestling the remote away from her. It would have been much easier, had Connie not been in the room; I was trying my hardest not to make it look too…physical, if you get me.

"Not a chance! We are watching Goblet of Fire, and there is nothing you can do about it!" she shrieked, giggling the whole way. "Wait, shh! Fred and George are about to put their names in the cup…"

I settled down between her and Tawni on the Munroes' couch, watching as two redheaded twins jumped over a glowing blue line and placed two pieces of paper into a flaming cup. Tawni let out a little giggle, and I turned to her, smiling maliciously. "Tawni Hart."

"What?" she said quickly. Aha, not too smart, she's already being defensive.

I winked and gestured to the screen, doing a double take as the Weasleys sprouted beards.

"I am perfectly entitled to…to…for Fred and George to be my favorite," she said, matter-of-factly.

"You stumbled."

"Did not."

"Shut up!" Sonny and Connie hissed simultaneously.

"Do you seriously expect me to sit through two solid hours with _this_?" I whispered to Sonny, jabbing my thumb towards the girl to my left.

"Calm it, Chain," came a voice from somewhere around my feet. "The twins are only in like…is it eight times?"

My palm connected with my face—ergo, "facepalm". "Seriously?"

"Hey, the Weasley twins are badass!"

"Language," groaned Connie tiredly for the fifth time since Vivi had arrived.

"Sorry, Mrs. M."

"I still don't get it," Grady stated from the floor beneath the chair in which Nico was sitting. "How does the Goblet _know_ they're too young?"

"It's called 'magic', Grady," Nico explained yet again. "It's magically charmed to have a mind of its own…"

"But in the second book, Arthur Weasley said, and I quote, 'never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain'," Grady said, receiving surprised looks from the lot of us. "What? I'm a careful reader!"

"Uh…I know for a fact that ain't true," Nico said.

"Guys, please!" Tawni squealed. "I'm trying to watch here."

This was totally nuts. There was no way anyone was going to stay focused on the movie, which would only piss Tawni off; the conversation was mostly nerdy facts about Harry Potter; and Sonny, to my great disappointment, was too near her mother for me to do anything cute. Instead, all I could do was listen to things that went over my head as Tawni squealed next to me and my hand lay intertwined in Sonny's.

"Hey, you guys, I'm gonna go start dinner," Connie said, getting up from her spot beside Sonny.

"Aren't we calling for pizza?" Vivi asked. I saw the top of her teased white head rotating to follow Sonny's mom.

"She means for Nico and Grady," Sonny explained, craning her neck to see that her mom was fully in the kitchen before nestling up to me. "Two slices of pizza a piece isn't gonna cut it for them. They need extra food."

"Thanks for making us sound like special needs kids," Nico griped.

"Hey, be nice."

"SHHH! I'M TRYING TO WATCH!"

I rolled my eyes as Tawni, Grady, and Vivi all had a hushed argument from different standpoints, not really arguing about the same things. I smiled at Sonny, who blushed profusely, and bent my head down to connect her silky lips with mine.

"Will you to quit snogging?" Tawni snapped. Normally, I would have ignored this, but I was curious as to why she used this term in particular.

"Snogging? Really, Tawni? Really?" I shook my head in mock disappointment. "I never took you for a Potterhead."

"I don't think that's the technical term for—"

"Pottermaniac. Harryhead? Hogwartian…"

"That's not even clever! You're such a Muggle," Tawni groaned, rolling her eyes.

My hand not holding Sonny's snapped up to my mouth and I bit hard on my knuckle in a failed attempt not to laugh hysterically. Muggle? She seriously called me a Muggle. I exchanged a look with Sonny that told me she was thinking exactly the same thing.

---

"Tawni, pause it," Sonny said for the tenth time. Connie wasn't going to let us eat anything until we were all in the kitchen. "Pause it."

"But…"

"_Pause it_."

"But the…Yule ball…"

Her eyes were fully on the screen and she clutched the remote with both hands to her chest. Her mouth moved in sync to everything the characters were saying. I happened to be just out of her view, and so I shifted myself to be directly behind her. As I crept up towards her, I nodded meaningfully to Vivi, who I felt was most capable for the job. I made a few vague motions, and she poised herself to spring.

Before Tawni knew what was going on, I leapt forward, grabbing both her arms and pulling them backwards. She let out a yelp of pain and Vivi sprang for the remote, which Tawni was now holding in one hand that had managed to wriggle out of my grasp. Vivi jumped several times, groping aimlessly, and then she reared up and took a flying leap (an astounding feat, as her pants looked to tight for her to even walk properly in). A painful thud told us Vivi had collided with the wall, and the "Yes!" subsequent to the weak "ow" told us our efforts had been successful. The screen stopped, freezing in place an image of Emma Watson descending a flight of stairs in a vibrant pink dress.

"Chad—let—_go_ of me!"

I released Tawni with much apology and we went in to get our pizza slices. Sonny giggled silently as she walked in alongside me.

* * *

Sonny

The kitchen and living room were each a successful mess of pizza sauce and decorative pillows. A couple of smudged Coco Moco Coco lip marks defiled the TV screen as well as the DVD case beside it. Tawni's hair lie in tangled disarray due to the numerous peltings of the receiving ends of pillows, accounting for each time she had spoken a line aloud before a character had said it. Nico and Grady lie strewn wearily over the displaced cushions, bruise-colored after a tussle with Vivi, from which she had emerged unscathed on account of the fact that neither boy had wanted to hit a girl—that strong. My mom had gone to bed, mostly from the exasperation of watching the demolition of her home occur before her very eyes.

Chad held his head up with his fist, elbow on the armrest, yawning while I used his legs as a pillow. "Oh!" he suddenly exclaimed in a raspy voice. "I completely forgot…Sonny, I have to leave, like, right now. If I hurry, I should still be able to get enough sleep…"

Now checking his watch, he motioned for me to lift my head and crossed over to the door. I stumbled after him, clutching a sleeping ankle as my shoulder collided with the wall beside him. I let out a short cry.

"Careful, Sonny!" Chad warned, holding his hands out protectively as I teetered, leaning into his arms and regaining my balance.

"I'll go with you to your car," I offered, glancing at a half-awake Tawni chatting quietly with Vivi. "Hey, I'll be right back, guys."

They nodded dismissively, continuing their tired conversation, and I followed Chad out the door and down the stairs, arriving shortly at his car.

"Get in, Sonny," he said, himself sliding in behind the wheel. "Just for a moment or two. It's cold out here."

"Okay." I opened the passenger's door with seemingly far more strength than I would have used earlier, allowing my weary limbs to collapse on the leather interior. "I still can't believe everything worked out alright!"

"Yeah," agreed Chad distractedly. He turned to look at me, and his face appeared upside-down, as I was simply lying across the seat with my face to the ceiling. He looked serious, so I sat erect and waited. He parted his lips, only slightly, and surprised me with a comfortable kiss rather than saying something important.

He pulled away at last, and though I was reluctant to desist, I let the hands that were holding him drop to my sides. "Sonny?" he whispered breathlessly.

"Yeah, Chad?"

"I'm…I'm moving back into the house soon. The one we had the party at, you know?" He rubbed the back of his neck and clutched the wheel, still looking at me. "I was wondering…if you'd move in with me."

I would have jumped at this chance days ago. I'd had nowhere to stay, banished from everyone who loved me. Now, with the ability to give this more thought, I realized how many kinds of dangerous it had been for me to stay with Chad. Vivi's picture and Tawni's many had proved so.

He was so nice, though, and patient, and knew when to stop. We'd practically verbalized the autobiographies of our lives to each other. There was no way anything damaging could happen!

But how was I sure?

I realized that the whole time I mulled this over, my mouth had been hanging open. I quickly set my lower jaw back into its appropriate place, continuing to stare at Chad, wide eyed. I could do nothing but gasp.

I was gasping at how stupid I had been. I was gasping at how easy everything had gone between us, at how mature Chad and I had been, at how little thought I had given to my previous situation.

And I was gasping at how foolish my decision was now.

* * *

**Mischief managed.**

**Don't complain about the ending, whatever you do! I did this on purpose. Finish the story yourself, in your mind, on paper...anything. I'm taking a page out of the book of a teacher of mine and saying that, if you're not thinking about the movie hours after you leave the theater, the story didn't do its job. :)**


End file.
